By Omar Bah
Lawyer Salieu Taal, a former president of the Gambia Bar Association and prominent human rights advocate, has urged President Adama Barrow to drop all charges against The Voice Newspaper journalists.
He also condemned the government’s use of “draconian laws” to suppress press freedom, calling the charges unfortunate and a significant embarrassment for the nation.
Taal was speaking at Senegambia Hotel yesterday while deliberating at a one-day media engagement organized by Wademos, a group advocating for two term limits in Africa. The group is in the country attending the African commission on human rights session.
His appeal aligns with broader calls from organisations like the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other advocates who emphasise the importance of protecting journalistic integrity in The Gambia.
The Voice Newspaper publisher Musa Sheriff and deputy editor Momodou Justice Darboe are charged by police with false publication while President Barrow is personally pursuing a civil suit against them.
Taal’s stance highlights ongoing tensions between the government and media, raising concerns about freedom of expression in the country.
“I want to take this opportunity to call on the government of the Gambia to drop all charges against the two Gambian journalists,” he said.
He went on: “As we speak, the whole of Africa has descended in The Gambia as the host of the African Charter on Human Peoples Rights and yet in today’s Gambia, two journalists are been charged for simply writing a story alleging that the incumbent has augmented a successor. It is rather unfortunate that a citizen or anybody for that matter particularly journalists who are the carriers of information can be charged, detained and taken to court for doing their work.”
“I am calling on the president personally to be magnanimous and inform the Inspector General of Police to discontinue the civil suit against the two journalists,” he added.
Taal also urged all journalists and human rights activists to make this their business because freedom of expression is the cornerstone of all rights.
“We cannot keep quiet while our colleagues are risking the possibility of going to jail due to some obnoxious colonial act that makes it criminal to publish a story that may not be true,” he said.
