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Sons Seek Justice For Murdered Gambian Journalist
Friday, 09 December 2011 16:55
Deyda Hydara
Hydara’s sons Deyda Hydara Jr. and Ismaila Hydara accuse the government of President Yahya Jammeh of failing to investigate their father’s killing on December 16, 2004, in a suit filed before the regional court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Slain Gambian Journalist Deyda Hydara
The African Regional Office of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ-Africa) is also an applicant in the case. The applicants are calling on the court to instruct Gambia to properly investigate the murder, and to compensate Hydara’s family for the lack of a proper response so far.
The applicants are represented by the Open Society Justice Initiative and by Aluko & Oyebode, the leading Nigerian law firm.
Deyda Hydara, Jr., who was 14 at the time of his father's killing, said: “We have given the Gambian government several opportunities to conduct a proper investigation, but as we approach the seventh anniversary of my father's death we are still waiting for justice; and we are tired of waiting. We need the authorities to conduct a diligent investigation with a coherent conclusion as to what really happened on that fateful night.”
Deyda Hydara was one of Gambia’s most distinguished journalists before he was shot to death in a suburb of Banjul, the Gambian capital. He was a leading government critic, writing weekly columns in The Point newspaper, and he mobilized journalists to resist changes to press laws that would have severely muzzled Gambian journalism.
In his last Point column, which appeared on the day of his death, Hydara vowed to continue to challenge such media restrictions through all constitutional means. In the weeks preceding the shooting, he had received multiple death threats by telephone.
The court brief notes that the killing followed a series of physical assaults on critical reporters and publications that had gone unpunished, creating a climate of impunity.
The Gambian authorities subsequently failed to bring Hydara's assailants to justice. On the contrary, they conducted an inadequate investigation and suppressed legitimate calls for a proper inquiry into the killing.
President Jammeh has rejected any suggestion of government involvement in the Hydara killing.
James A. Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, said: “The killing of Deyda Hydara must be properly investigated, and those responsible brought to justice. A proper accounting for his death will be a touchstone for whether Gambia can indeed move forward toward the goals of freedom and openness that Deyda so passionately fought for, and which most Gambians still hold dear.”
The impunity surrounding the Hydara case is emblematic of the dire state of freedom of the media in Gambia, where President Jammeh has ruled for 17 years. He was elected to another five year term last month.
In June 2008, the ECOWAS court found the Gambian government responsible for the disappearance of Ebrima Manneh, a journalist with the Daily Observer who has been missing since July 2006. Last December, the court found the government responsible for the torture of Musa Saidykhan, a former chief editor of The Independent newspaper, also in 2006.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has repeatedly raised concerns regarding “the alleged murder, unlawful arrest and detention, harassment, intimidation, prosecutions, and disappearances of journalists and human rights defenders” in Gambia.
IFJ-Africa, the IFJ’s chapter for the African continent, is a separate legal entity based and registered in Dakar, Senegal.
Contact:
Jonathan Birchall
jbirchall@justiceinitiative.org
1-212-547-6958
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Comments
If it is that bad at Foroyaa , I wonder why you are still there....You ought to leave and go somewhere that's not a brothel...Or do you like it do much at this brothel...?
Thanks and having said that I refrain commenting on deaths and disappearances dose not mean that I blame anyone for pointing fingers to government. We all have the right to do so but I only feel that I don’t have sufficient knowledge to discuss the issue. I will never stop anyone from discussing it and would be happy to see justice takes it course. I engage when am confronted with professionalism and maturity just like you do. But what do I gain from someone who only expresses abusive language? You don’t know me but my expressions should make you guess what type of person I am. I am not against discussing the death or pointing fingers to government but I personally engage on issues I have knowledge despite others will agree or disagree. I am real forced to comment under this heading but never want to because of no sufficient knowledge on the case and dont want to hurt the family or love ones who for years are in search of truth.(Original ML)
Bax why are you always referring to PDOIS people as role models? Have you ever asked yourselves why Sidia Jatta I respect is keeping silent on the fact that Foroyaa has been turned into a brothel where sexual harassment has become the order of the day. Sam Sarr, PDOIS' Dominique Strauss Khan, has questions to answer...
I have been silent these days because of tightening of internet control at the bureau
It is reported that the recorded figures show that he has received more than double, in 17yrs, what Jawara received in 30yrs..(national debt figures) What about the unrecorded figures...?
Wake up you slumbers....Jammeh does not deserve your support....He is a calculating monster,who preaches one thing but does something different.....A true chameleon .... Where is the 'Sultan of Sokoto ' like headgear that he used to dress in....He tried a three piece suit once, but quickly discarded it...So unagreeable with his physique ....So he is stuck with the flowing gown....
There is really a confusing debate here from your end, I read all these comments sent from ML fake or real but it doesn't make no difference because your reactions to certain impersonation on your users name are very likely to be sent from the same person. I really am getting confused here..you said. Refrained but u not and I blame you for all these confussions ur creating you sounds fake let's try to be real..ignorants fools, idiot..Deyda hydara deserves more than this..he should be mourned, respected because he was a Hero..his killers shall not know peace here and in the hereafter..
Quoting sky:
Around Jammeh there is no lack of bad people like this. No wonder, when Jammeh talks about development, it is his level. These satanic vampires will hasve their day.
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