Lectures on Media Law in The Gambia

 

Below are the presentations of three personalities on media law in The Gambia during the training of young journalists on media law in The Gambia at a day’s training at the Officers Mess organised by the Young Journalists Association of The Gambia on Saturday, 27 February 2010. The objective of the workshop was to acquaint the young journalists with Constitutional issues that relate to their profession in order to equip them with the necessary legal tools of the law for any eventuality that may arise.

 

Dr. Henry Carrol

Dr. Henry Carrol, a legal practitioner, dwelled on sedition and defamation.

He said sedition is a common law offence and if the seditious action is written it is called libel. Dr. Carrol added that sedition law is the speaking or writing of words that are likely to incite ordinary people to public disorder or insurrection. He noted that seditious intent is making a statement for an ordinary person to hate or go against the president which has no basis of truth.

 

He further said that defamation law is making a defamatory statement against someone defaming his/her character, and is called libel while the speech form is called slander.

Dr. Carrol quoted section 178 of the Criminal Code which states the offence of defamation/criminal libel. The person if convicted may be sent to jail and/or may be fined; and if fined the fine goes to the state while in civil defamation the offender will compensate the complainant for damages with money.

 

He advised journalists to get their facts right before publishing things that will land them into problems. "The laws are not meant for decoration but to be implemented, anybody who violates the law will face the consequences, so be objective in your reporting and always get the right facts before publishing anything," he said.

 

Sam Sarr

The managing editor of the Foroyaa newspaper, Mr. Sarr, spoke on sedition and defamation. Mr. Sarr told the participants that he was not going to debate on opinions but would merely expose the facts and the law.

 

Mr. Sarr said the Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia makes provisions for Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press as fundamental rights, as well as other constitutional provisions which facilitate the work of a journalist.

The Foroyaa Managing Editor said that the law on Sedition could be found in Chapter Seven of the Criminal Code. He said the Criminal Code is part of the law which creates most of the different types of offences that exist, for example Theft, Murder, Treason are all found in the Criminal Code.

 

Mr. Sarr said the law on Sedition was a law which was enacted during the colonial era to ensure loyalty to the Crown (the queen). He said section 51 of the Criminal Code defines Sedition. He read out five paragraphs, one of them which reads: ‘to bring into hatred or contempt or to exercise disaffection against the Government of the Gambia as by the law established." He explained that if one published a statement that makes people hate the Government of the Gambia he or she would have committed the offence of sedition. He added that "to raise discontent or disaffection amongst the people or inhabitants of The Gambia" is also defined as seditious intent. He defined the dictionary meaning of ‘discontent’ as "the unhappy feeling you have when you are not satisfied with something," and ‘disaffection as "the state of no longer feeling loyal towards a group or organisation."

He emphasized the significance of the interpretation of the law by the courts. He cited the case of the six journalists who were found guilty of three counts of sedition and three counts of libel last year. He read out the following statement which was considered seditious by the court and which led to their conviction to help them understand how the law is interpreted:

 

"Mere statements or speculations and ridicule, such as the events leading to the death of Deyda Hydara, cannot and will not be accepted as exoneration of the Gambia Government neither by the Union, International Journalist Association, the Hydara family or other interested parties. The death of any Gambia more so one who was so vocal on issues of human rights, freedom of expression and the development of the country in general even if it meant clashing with the powers that be, can only be deemed suspicious until such a time that the state can easily, logically, reasonably, factually and forensically and within the shortest possible period prove otherwise."

 

He explained to them that some may say that this is not seditious but such opinion does not count. What matters is the interpretation of the law by the courts. In the opinion of the court, he said, the court of trial found that the six defendants had published the statement cited above "with intent to bring into hatred or contempt to excite disaffection against the person of the President or the Government of The Gambia…"

 

He told the young journalists that it is good for them to understand this before putting pen on paper, adding that they should understand what can constitute an offence under the present laws of the country.

 

On the issue of defamation, Mr. Sarr said it may be civil or criminal in The Gambia. He noted that in some countries defamation is not criminal but only a civil wrong. He said in a civil suit a defendant that is found liable pays compensation to the complainant (the plaintiff). But in criminal libel the state takes interest and prosecutes the defendant and if found guilty a fine or imprisonment or both may be imposed.

 

He defined defamation as the publication of an untrue statement which reflects on a person’s reputation and tends to lower him/her in the estimation of right thinking members of society generally or tends to make them shun him/her. He emphasised the importance of the lowering of the reputation of the complainant.

 

He noted that slander and libel are both defamation. He said libel is a publication in a permanent form such as printing, radio or television. He added that slander is in a transient form such as utterances at a political rally.

 

Mr Sarr also dealt with the following defences of libel:

1. Truth – so long as the statement is true the plaintiff has no case, but it is the defendant that must prove this. He advised the young journalists not only to believe the story they publish but to be ready to defend the facts in court.

 

2. Fair comment – the expression of an opinion based on facts is a good defence.

3. Absolute privilege – this, he said, covers the testimony of a witness, counsels’ arguments, judgments, statements in court or a speech made at the National Assembly.

4. Qualified privilege – this defence, he said, is available to the defendant if the publication is not malicious. He noted that this defence covers fair and accurate reports of judicial and parliamentary proceedings, etc.

 

Mr Sarr also stated that the penalty for the offence of sedition and defamation is

a) A minimum fine of fifty thousand dalasis (D50,000) and a maximum fine of two hundred and fifty thousand dalasis (D250,000); or

b) Imprisonment for a minimum term of one year; or

c) Both fine and imprisonment.

He added that the offence of false publication also attracts the same penalties. He emphasised that unlike libel the offence of false publication does not make damage to reputation an issue. So long as the publication is untrue and no attempt to verify it has been made, the defendant can easily be convicted.

 

Mr Edu Gomez

Mr. Edu Gomez a legal practitioner said journalists are watch dogs of society. He said journalists have the duty to inform, educate and entertain. He said journalists should try very good written, spoken skills of understanding the languages in order to easily communicate with the public, if not they will find it difficult. He said journalists need to have all the tools before practising their profession, adding that it requires many things. He touched on the issue of libel and cited an example a story that Daily Observer published against him. He cautioned journalists to desist from such publications.