By Arret Jatta
The Secretary General of The Gambia Press Union (GPU), Modou S Joof presented its position paper on the cybercrime bill before the National Assembly Committee of Education and ICT in Banjul on Wednesday.
Mr Joof stated that the Cybercrime Bill, 2023 is aimed improving the Gambia’s capacity to respond to cybercrime incidents adequately, according to the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, on whose behalf the Bill was presented to the National Assembly on March 4, 2023.
“From our own assessment, there are a few clauses in the Bill that raises some concerns with regards press freedom and freedom of expression that are likely to affect specifically the media, human rights activists, opposition activists, and generally, members of the public and social media users,” he said.
He also highlighted this clauses which include “Section 4, Subsection 7
Section 5 Section 6(1)(a); and paragraphs (b) and (c). Section 7 Section 8(1) Section 12(1) Section 13
Section 15 Section 16, and subsection (6)Section 17(6) Section 18(2)”.
He explained that section 6(1)(a) creates the offence of ‘false news or information against a person.
“The offence of ‘false news or information’ is overly broad and lacks clarity, posing a significant threat to human rights. In 2018, the ECOWAS Community Court ruled against the inclusion of ‘false news’ in the Gambia’s Criminal Code, citing its adverse impact on journalists’ and freedom of expression,” he told the committee.
He added that paragraphs (b) and (c), which establish the offences of ‘inciting violence against a person’ and ‘bullying, abusing, or making derogatory statements against a person,’ respectively, present similar challenges to human rights defenders, journalists, and ordinary citizens due to their ambiguous language.
“We note that there is already a provision in the Criminal Code, which was replicated in the Criminal Offences Bill, 2022 on “False Publication and Broadcasting”, which places severe restrictions on media freedom and freedom of expression despite recommendations by the Gambia Press Union and the ECOWAS Court of Justice for its removal from the penal code and as per the Recommendation of the TRRC which the government accepted,” he further highlighted.
“Similarly, in 2018, The Gambia’s Supreme Court in a landmark judgement gave a major boost to the enjoyment of digital rights by declaring as unconstitutional the law on ‘False Publication on the Internet’ which was a 2013 amendment to the Information and Communication Act, 2009 following a suit by the Gambia Press Union filed in April 2017,” SG added.
He further told the committee that the above provisions in the Cybercrime Bill, 2023 contradict the core Constitutional rights which directly affect the freedom of the media, freedom of speech and expression as found in Sections 25(1) (a) and 207 (1) and (3) and 208 of the 1997 Constitution.
He made recommendations to the committee and one of them is that “the provisions in Section 6 1(a) and subsections (b) and (c) of the Cybercrime Bill, 2023 should either be removed entirely or revised to ensure they do not infringe upon fundamental rights and freedoms”.
“Sections 5, 6 and 7 must be stricken entirely. Strike6 section 12 entirely, which fails the test of legality and is so broadly worded that it would criminalize public interest journalism or reporting.
Strike section 13 as written, which does not track any existing internationally or regionally accepted cybercrime, and would criminalize not only academic and security research but also the widespread use of digital security and anonymity tools by journalists and human rights defenders,” he added.
He further recommended that the Cybercrime Bill, 2023 be subjected to a thorough review in line with principles of freedom of expression and international human rights standards and principles.