Gambian journalist Baboucarr Ceesay detained again

Gambian journalist Baboucarr Ceesay detained again 

Mafugi Ceesay 

 

The first vice president of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), Baboucarr Ceesay, has been arrested and detained again by the Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency on Friday, March 8, 2013.

Mr Ceesay, also a correspondent for the Nairobi-based Africa Review, an outlet of Nations Media Group, was picked up by a group of plain clothed personnel believed to be NIA officers outside his Ceesay-Kunda home.

Family sources said Mr Ceesay had been the target of secret police officers for about two weeks, saying that his whereabouts remain unclear.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the authorities in The Gambia to immediately release Baboucarr Ceesay.

“We call on authorities in The Gambia to release our colleague immediately and unconditionally. The Gambia must stop these never ending intimidations and harassments of journalists which have portrayed a very negative image for the country throughout the whole world,” said Gabriel Baglo, IFJ Africa Director.

“Journalists in The Gambia must be allowed to exercise their right to freedom of expression and of the press as guaranteed by the country’s constitution and other international instruments that the country has signed and ratified, including the Africa Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights”, added Baglo.

Earlier media reports have it that two men attempted to abduct Babucarr Ceesay on Wednesday 13, February around 1.00am after enquiries about his whereabouts by “suspected spies”.

Baboucarr Ceesay and Abubacarr Saidykhan, a freelance journalist, were arrested, detained, charged and released in September 2012 for applying to organize a peaceful demonstration against the execution of nine death-row inmates in the Gambia.