The Gambia civil society organistions (CSOs) have condemned, in the strongest terms, the suspension of Home Digital FM and King FM Radio Stations and the arrest and detention of proprietor Pa Modou Bojang and manager Gibbi Jallow, respectively.
Beakanyang and Democratic Union of Gambian Activists-DUGA made the statement in a press release made available to The Voice on Monday.
“We demand for their unconditional release with any other detained journalists and all confiscated materials returned to the journalists. The media plays a pivotal role towards the development of society and any attempt by security forces to attack and/or intimidate members of the fourth estate is reprehensible and unacceptable,” DUGA said in its statement.
DUGA further stated that the media play a pivotal role towards the development of society and any attempt by security forces to attack and/or intimidate members of the fourth estate is reprehensible and unacceptable.
“We express concern over the arrest and detention of over 130 protesters from Operation 3 Years Jotna Movement during their march on January 26th, 2020. The right to peaceful assembly is enshrined in our national Constitution and therefore, citizens must not be denied this inalienable right to exercise their civic duty.
“We hereby remind the Barrow Government of its Constitutional obligation on the protection of civilians’ life and property.
“We also call on our leaders and authorities to publicly condemn this act of violence and demand that an immediate investigation be launched to determine reasons for the violence, arrests, detentions, and closures of both media houses,” DUGA said.
DUGA said it is also troubled by the extrajudicial banning of Operation 3 Years Jotna, stressing that it is the activists fervent belief that it is not only enough to ban any group on a mere pronouncement, that all such moves must be done in accordance with the Constitution.
DUGA pointed out that as a result of the security personnel from the Gambia Police Department’s paramilitary unit’s heavy-handed approach to the protesters and the media, the activists urged the government to perform a comprehensive security review and reform that will mitigate such instances from reoccurring, at the same time preserving the democratic rights of Gambians.
“The concerns of the citizens, especially the civil society organizations such as Operation 3 Years Jotna must be heard and addressed,” DUGA noted.
Beakanyang, a rights group, called for restraint following Sunday violent protest by the pressure group 3 years Jotna during which several people were injured, saying that the group attention has been drawn to the arrest and detention of several members of the group as well as journalists.
“It has also been reported that two radio stations namely; King FM and Home Digital FM respectively, have been shut down.
“As a human rights organization, we find these allegations worrying and call on the government to respect the rights of detainees. A person who is alleged to have committed a crime is still entitled to enjoy his rights and same time must be respected,” Beakanyang said.
The rights group said the right to free from torture is respected under the Gambian law and international human rights law and therefore cannot be compromised under any circumstances.
“While we recognized that protest is a right guaranteed by the Gambian constitution, we oppose any attempt to forcefully dislodge a democratically elected government. We therefore call on all parties and Gambians in general to exercise restraint and use dialogue to address their concerns.
“We call for a thorough investigation into Sunday’s violent protest by the government and also call for the reopening of the two radio stations as soon as possible to facilitate citizen’s access to information and to allow those in custody to have access to a lawyer,” Beakanyang pointed out.