Intelligence Agency At It Again! Independent Managing Editor Picked Up The Independent (Banjul) NEWS June 16, 2003 Posted to the web June 16, 2003 By Pk Jarju Banjul The Managing Editor of The Independent was on Friday picked up and subjected to intense questioning by officers of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) over a Friday front page article, quoting unconfirmed reports that two Gambian fans had been killed in post-match violence in the border towns of Karang and Amdalaye. Alagi Yorro Jallow was whisked away by a waiting pajero, bearing dark glasses and a numberless plate. Its occupants were three gentlemen from the NIA who said they were merely carrying out orders from their unnamed superiors, who wanted clarification from Mr. Jallow. Mr. Jallow's arrest was over a story captioned "Two reported killed in border class", in which it was reported that some Gambians had visited the offices of The independent, Wednesday, complaining over what they perceived to be the government's deliberate effort to conceal "the truth" over the alleged death of Gambians in the football violence. Narrating his experience Mr. Jallow stated that he was ushered into the presence of the NIA deputy Director General Momodou Suso, Salimina Drammeh its Director of Operations and another officer identified as Singhateh who began punching questions at him over what they saw as the unsubstantiated nature of the story. According to Mr. Jallow who saw arrest for the umpteenth time the NIA had expressed reservation over the veracity of the story, which they described as "sensitive" without corroboration by the relevant authorities. Jallow quoted himself as arguing that the story was not an inciting article but an innocuous account gleaned from eyewitnesses to incidents in which two Gambians were reportedly killed. He added that although the government had denied the alleged death of two Gambians in Dakar yet the paper was merely giving the benefit of the doubt to eyewitness accounts, which its report had qualified as unconfirmed in the first place. Jallow said after interrogations lasting several hours, the NIA demanded from The Independent further clarifications particularly with the GPTC and other relevant authorities. He was later released. Meanwhile in his reaction, the paper's Editor-in Chief, Abdoulie Sey said the summoning of the managing editor to the NIA was not the least appropriate, since as the man responsible for the paper's contents, he (Sey) would be the most appropriate man to clarify any given content as the paper's Editor. "The NIA always get the wrong man to clarify anything that should be clarified. Yorro should be given a break," he said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Copyright © 2003 The Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~