IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT - THE GAMBIA
30 October 2001
Owner of private radio station arrested
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
(RSF/IFEX) - In a letter to Minister of the Interior Lamin Bajo, RSF
protested the arrest of Babucar Gaye, the owner of private radio station
Citizen FM. RSF urged the minister to do everything possible so that the
journalist is released immediately. "Once again, Citizen FM is a victim of
its independent stance," stated Robert Ménard, the organisation's
secretary-general. "Mr. Gaye is the second private radio station owner to be
arrested in less than a week," the secretary-general recalled.
According to information collected by RSF, Citizen FM interrupted its
programming on the morning of 29 October 2001 to announce the arrest of the
station's owner, Gaye, by National Intelligence Agency (NIA) men. No
explanation for the arrest was offered by the authorities. It appears that
the arrest is linked to the radio station's announcement of its intention to
broadcast results from the 18 October presidential election as the votes
come in. Acording to Gambian law, the electoral commission must be the first
body to announce the election results to the public.
Citizen FM was suspended for close to two years, between August 1998 and
July 2000, for "broadcasting false news." At the time, several local
journalists stated that the real motive behind the station's closure was its
broadcast of a daily press review (see IFEX alerts of 11 and 6 July 2000, 13
August, 22 and 17 June 1999, 19 May, 20 April, 3 March, 19, 13 and 9
February 1998). In an effort to reach illiterate people in the country's
interior, the station translated articles from English-language newspapers
into local languages.
RSF also recalled that George Christensen, owner of the private radio
station Radio 1, was arrested on 23 October and taken to the NIA's offices.
He was released after being interrogated about the radio station's financial
situation.
For further information, contact Jean-François Julliard at RSF, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: [log in to unmask], Internet: http://www.rsf.fr
The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of RSF.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.
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