The Gambian Police released two of the three detained journalists working with the Banjul based The Independent newspaper. The two, Madi Ceesay, General Manager and Musa Saidykhan, Editor-In-Chief respectively spent 3 weeks in detention without being charged.
However, Lamin Fatty a reporter of the same newspaper who was arrested last week is still in detention and the newspaper’s offices remain closed and under police guard. Ceesay and Saidykhan were released in the afternoon and asked to report to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) today, April 21. Ceesay and Saidykhan together with other staff members of the newspaper were arrested on March 18.
A few hours later, the Gambia Police Intervention Unit and the Criminal Investigation Department wing of the Gambia police force, released all the detainees, except the two. However, in its March 24 edition, the newspaper reported that Samba Bah, former Interior Minister and head of the National Intelligence Agency, was among those arrested after an alleged coup attempt against President Yahya Jammeh on March 21.When the information turned out to be false, the newspaper in a subsequent edition published a correction in the form of a rejoinder by the former minister as well as an apology.