A member of the main opposition party in The Gambia, Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction party has been arrested for “insulting” President Adama Barrow and foreign minister Ousainou Darboe after he recorded a WhatsApp audio in which he accused the two officials for failing Gambians.
Touray said the foreign minister has signed a deportation order for Gambians to be returned from European Union countries, calling him a ‘liar’.
The WhatsApp audio that has since gone viral on social media was deemed by the police as having the potential “to cause contempt and incitement of violence.”
Touray was arrested on and subsequently charged with been charged with seditious intention at the Brikama Magistrate Court. Touray however pleaded not guilty.
Gambia government has made a commitment at the Supreme Court about three months ago that they will not prosecute anyone for sedition and that they have agreed that sedition is unconstitutional.
However, the Supreme Court ruled in May 2018 in a case brought by the Gambia Press Union that sedition protecting the president and the presidency is constitutional and necessary in a democratic society.