Media Foundation
For Africa: Press
Release
A Banjul Magistrate
court presided over
by Buba Jawo on June
23, 2008 dismissed
the case of sedition
preferred against
Dida Halake,
detained former
Managing Director of
the pro-government
Daily Observer
newspaper.
Media Foundation for
West Africa (MFWA)
sources reported that it
followed a request by
Halake’s counsel Lamin
Jobarteh. The police
prosecutor had earlier
sought an adjournment to
enable them correct a
drafted charge sheet
that had been poorly
written.
Following the court
ruling, the police
rearrested Halake and he
is now in detention at a
police station in
Serrekunda, the Gambia’s
second largest city.
The sources said the
former Managing Director
is charged with
sedition, following
information he allegedly
sent via Short Message
System (SMS) to The
Gambian President Yahya
Jammeh. Details of that
communication remain
unknown.
MFWA sources said Halake,
Kenyan-born journalist,
had refused demotion
from Managing Director
to Editor of the
government-controlled
privately-owned Daily
Observer newspaper. He
has since been dismissed
from the newspaper.
Before his appearance in
court, he had been in
detention for eleven
days, far in excess of
the 72-hour period that
the 1997 Constitution of
The Gambia stipulates.
He was arrested on
June12 and made his
first appearance on June
23.
Media Foundation for West Africa (Accra)
PRESS RELEASE
27 June 2008
Posted to the web 27 June 2008
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