Gambia to respect ECOWAS Court ruling involving journalists

03 Novembre 2017

Banjul, Gambia, November 3 (Infosplusgabon) - The new Gambian government has expressed readiness to respect the verdicts of a sub-regional court which ordered the West African country to compensate three journalists whose rights were violated by the former regime of Yahya Jammeh, Infosplusgabon reported Friday.

Mr. Hussein Thomasi, special adviser to Gambia’s Minister of Justice, disclosed that the judgements made by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court against the former government will be respected by the new government.

“The Hon. Minister of Justice has commenced negotiations for the fulfilment of the judgements,” Thomasi told a group of journalists in Banjul, adding: “We are members of ECOWAS so we cannot do anything in contravention of the body.”

Meanwhile, the ECOWAS Court sitting in Nigeria on 16 December 2010 entered judgment in favor of journalist Musa Saidykhan who alleged unlawful arrest and detention and torture by agents of former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh.

In the judgment, the court declared that the arrest of Saidykhan was illegal and unconstitutional, his detention for 22 days without trial illegal and the torture inflicted on him also illegal.

Saidykhan was awarded damages amounting to US$200,000 to be paid by the Gambian Government.

Similarly, the ECOWAS Community Court also ordered The Gambia to pay US$50,000 in damages to the family of journalist Deyda Hydara, who was murdered in 2004.

The court made an earlier ruling involving another Gambian journalist, Chief Ebrima Manneh, in 2008 against the Jammeh regime. The court found out that the journalist was arrested by government agents and should be released.

The government was also ordered to pay compensation to the journalist’s family who was made to disappear and is believed to be dead.

During the former regime of Yahya Jammeh, the judgments were never complied with despite repeated calls for the court orders to be respected.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/UHJ/GABON 2017

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