"Reviewing the situation, the union is satisfied that the paper has committed no crime and that the matter could have been handled differently without resorting to high-handedness. The invasion of the Independent office and the mass arrest, detention incommunicado of its staff, coming close on the heels of the official order of July 23 to the paper to cease publication, point once again to government's relentless campaign to silence the free press whose only crime is that they dare to differ. Therefore, in the interest of our fledgling democracy, a free press is an indispensable guard against the prospect of this country being classed among the fascist states of the new millennium." ***********************************************Reply separator Indeed, as Malanding said, actions do speak louder than words. This is part of the continuing and intensifying high-handed tactics used by the present government to silence any dissenting voice, and secure a life-time rule. Their aim is to silence any voice that dares to be critical of this "pirate operation" masquerading as a legitimate government. The fact that people who operate in this fashion actually expect to be taken seriously by the rest of the World, as well as those they are supposedly representing is beyond belief. The proprietor of Citizen's FM, my former school mate Mr Baboucarr Gaye, was harassed and silenced using the very same tactics, and since they seem to have gotten away with that, why not again? To the proprietors and staff of the independent, l say please continue to be a voice for the people in a country where those who are supposed to protect our interests and our rights, have nothing but a clear agenda to subjugate, silence and instill fear in us so that they can stay in power for as long as they live. How sad that in most of Africa, if not all, those who seek political power do not seem to have a grasp of a very basic process, namely that being elected to office does not mena that you have to stay there forever. So, instead of focussing on the tasks at hand, alas, they polish their skills and tactics on how to stay in office forever.That statement by the July 22nd movement was but a sign of this kind of thinking. As l mentioned before, the message clearly was "one party, one president for life, and only those newspapers that print what is favourable to the present government." It is a very sad day for our country.We are in the grips of tyranny, and whoever does not want to believe this is fooling themselves. Jabou Joh In a message dated 8/3/99 7:51:35 PM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << Folks, this is from The Daily Observer Aug 3, 99. The old adage goes "Action speaks louder than words"! Malanding Jaiteh Independent editors released The editors of the Independent newspaper, Baba Galleh Jallow and Alhaji Yoro Jallow, who were arrested Sunday night by officers of the National Intelligence Agency were released last night. NB Daffeh, reporter, who was arrested Friday morning was also released. Speaking to the Daily Observer shortly after their release, Baba Galleh Jallow, editor-in-chief, said, "we were told this afternoon that we were arrested because we did not have the authorisation and the requisite documents to operate a newspaper. From our understanding, the NIA was given the impression that we did not have the authorisation to publish and that we did not have the affidavit and other documentation to publish a newspaper. We've been asked to report to the NIA at 9am tomorrow and take along copies of these documents which we will do." Narrating his experiences at the NIA, NB Daffeh said, "the only unfortunate thing is that I was treated like a criminal. I was dumped in a cell together with some criminals and I slept on the bare floor." In reaction to the incident, the Gambia Press Union, yesterday issued a press statement condemning the arrests. We reproduce the full text of the statement: The harassment of the staff of the Independent newspaper has taken a turn for the worst with the arrest of the paper's editor-in-chief and managing editor, Baba Galleh Jallow and Yorro Jallow respectively on Sunday. On Friday the entire support staff and a staff reporter, NB Daffeh were picked up from the Independent office. They were whisked to NIA headquarters where they were cautioned not to work for the paper and released, except for NB Daffeh. He is still in detention. This development is a cause of great concern and alarm to the Gambia Press Union, which further believes that the crisis is being blown out of proportion. Reviewing the situation, the union is satisfied that the paper has committed no crime and that the matter could have been handled differently without resorting to high-handedness. The invasion of the Independent office and the mass arrest, detention incommunicado of its staff, coming close on the heels of the official order of July 23 to the paper to cease publication, point once again to government's relentless campaign to silence the free press whose only crime is that they dare to differ. Therefore, in the interest of our fledgling democracy, a free press is an indispensable guard against the prospect of this country being classed among the fascist states of the new millennium. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------