US demands release of convicted reporters in Gambia

(Reuters) - The United States on Friday described as "outrageous" and a "travesty" the conviction of six journalists in Gambia for sedition and defamation and demanded their immediate release.

"It violates not only accepted international norms, but the imperatives of governance of the 21st century. This action is a travesty, given Gambia's current leadership of the African Union's Human Rights Commission," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

Crowley, who was in South Africa with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said the conviction of the journalists violated not only "accepted international norms, but the imperatives of governance of the 21st century."

The journalists were jailed on Thursday for two years and include three members of the Gambian Press Union, two reporters from The Point newspaper and one working for Foroyaa newspaper. One of the journalists for The Point, Pap Saine, also reports for Reuters.

Reuters issued a statement on Thursday expressing concern for the health of Saine, who needs medical attention for a heart condition and collapsed in court at one stage during the trial.

Seven journalists were arrested in June after the Gambia Press Union issued a statement critical of the government's treatment of journalists, especially after the killing in 2004 of veteran reporter Deyda Hydara. One of the seven was later released.

"The United States, along with other responsible countries, have and will continue to protest this action until the journalists are released," said Crowley, in unusually stern diplomatic language.

"In this day and age, any government that is afraid of ideas and tries to suppress the truth will isolate itself and fall further behind responsible countries that embrace universal principles," he added. (Reporting by Sue Pleming; editing by Dominic Evans)

The Dialectics of African Despotism

By Baba Galleh Jallow

The conviction of six Gambian journalists by a Nigerian judge of the High Court is not an imposition of justice. It is a denial of justice. People who rightly commit crimes may justly be convicted and sentenced in a court of law. But the six journalist jailed by Emmanuel Fangbele have not committed any crime. They are merely victims of a political dispensation that is totally and absolutely under the control of one individual who has made himself synonymous with all the institutions of state, all the arms of government, and the very law itself. These six innocent people were put through the formal motions of trial, but they were presumed guilty the day they were arrested and were presumed guilty throughout the process of their so-called trial.

The kind of situation under which these six journalists were put on trial and sentenced can only happen in an environment of despotism where there is absolutely no regard for the rule of law, the constitution, and human worth as far as these run counter to the whims and caprices of the despot himself. Sending six innocent persons to jail for merely criticizing remarks by the president is the height of judicial hypocrisy and a demonstration of extreme contempt for the Gambian people, the Gambian nation, and the sensibilities of human kind in general.

It is a classical manifestation of the nature of African despotism, which is guided by neither ideology nor even vision, but merely by the greed for power and an obsessive desire to impose by force what has been called “a culture of monolithic uniformity.” A uniformity of views, opinions, desires, actions, and aspirations that must all be co-terminus with those of the blind-minded and blind-hearted despot himself.

In an African despotism such as we now have in The Gambia, there is a great deal of empty talk about patriotism, about enemies of the nation, about the determination of the despot – who pretends to love the country more than anyone else – to fight and subdue all so-called unpatriotic forces in the country. The label of traitor – which the despot rightfully carries – is instead slapped on all who dare to question the words or actions of the despot.

All citizens are expected to crawl on all fours, to be willfully blind to the dictates of truth and justice, and to swallow all lies and injustices uttered by the despot. Those self-respecting citizens who refuse to do so are summarily brought before emasculated judiciaries and sentenced to jail terms or heavy fines. If they are particularly critical of the despot, they are brutally murdered or made to disappear. Such was the fate of the students of April 2000, of Deyda Hydara, and of Chief Ebrima Manneh, to cite a few examples from The Gambia.

The African despot is a fascist without even the benefit of a fascist ideology to guide his actions. At least the kind of fascism that existed in Italy under Mussolini was built around a set of ideas which could be analyzed and exposed for what they were. In an African despotism such as we now have in The Gambia, all there is to analyze is the dark and evil personality of the despot himself, which is so empty of substance that one is hard-pressed to find a point of analytic departure.

In an African despotism, the frontiers between penal and non-penal deeds are totally effaced. The law becomes not an instrument for the punishment of criminals, or an institution for the maintenance of peaceful order, but a bogey for the frightening of the population and a sword for the slaughter of principles and human dignities. African despotisms turn the law into a malignant instrument of remote control and surveillance in the service of the callous despot. The law watches out for wrong smiles on the faces of people looking at an image of the despot, listens to wrong words spoken in reference to the despot, browses the pages of journals for wrong words directed at the person of the despot. In every case, the law, now transformed into a monstrous public enemy number one, is ready to pounce on perceived offenders and tear them into shreds for the benefit of the despot.

In an African despotism such as we now have in The Gambia, society becomes reduced to a giant masquerade of lies and pretences. All who wish to survive are compelled to keep their minds dormant and their mouths shut. People are compelled to deny their true opinions and express only fake opinions in praise of the despot. An atmosphere of general mistrust is created in work places and public places because unprincipled liars have made it dangerous to express any opinions that are not complimentary to the despot. Unscrupulous and callous individuals take advantage of the high premium placed on sycophancy and lying to cook up stories of unpatriotism against innocent folks and deliver them up to the monster despot. Jealous individuals eying top positions in work places can have their colleagues removed by telling lies about them to the despot.

In such a society, the despot divides the people into two factions. Those who negate their humanity, ignore truth and justice, willfully lie and torture innocent individuals are considered the good and the loyal. Those who cling on to their humanity, who insist on telling the truth, who speak up for justice, who will never lie and refuse to crawl on their stomachs like miserable reptiles – those are considered the criminal elements. Society is therefore stood directly on its head: Truth becomes lies, lies truth. Injustice parades around as justice and the law is rendered an instrument of illegality and criminality.

Criminals are glorified and the innocent harshly punished. These are the dialectics of African despotism, the dialectics that have dragged many African societies into the hellhole of violent conflict; the dialectics that Yahya Jammeh has now imposed upon The Gambia; the dialectics that must be understood and neutralized before it is too late. Or is it already too late?

Mercenary Justice Revisited

By Baba Galleh Jallow

Justice Immasculate Fanabululu sat there, his chin on his palms, his elbows on the large mahogany desk. He stared below at the defense counsel as the lawyer listed the various reasons why his client should be granted bail. Justice Immasculate Fanabululu did not really hear what the defense counsel was saying.


All he needed to know was that counsel was applying for bail. The rest, as far as he was concerned, was of little consequence to him because he was no position to grant or refuse bail. He was there to do whatever it was the powers that be wanted him to do with any accused person brought before his court. So Justice Immasculate Fanabululu, bored to death, just sat there and day-dreamed as counsel for the defense ranted on about constitutional rights etc etc.

Suddenly aware that counsel for the defense had finished ranting about constitutional rights and the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty and similar nonsense, the magistrate ordered silence and announced that this court would take a brief recess in order to consider the matter of the defense counsel’s application for bail.

Back in his office, Justice Immasculate Fanabululu picked up his phone and dialed. Some one picked up the phone.

“Hello. This is Justice Immasculate Fanabululu, trying a case under the orders of His Excellency the President. I would like to speak to His Excellency please. He said to call him with any questions.”

Justice Immasculate Fanabululu was put on hold. For twenty long minutes, he sat there holding the receiver in his sweating palm to his sweating ear. He felt sleepy but dared not so much as move lest His Excellency comes to the line. He wanted to take a leak but dared not move. He pressed his legs together to prevent the pee from licking out. He was in such a hurry to get His Excellency on the line that he had forgotten to use the bathroom before calling.

Now he was paying for his stupid mistake. He had been made to hold the line for up to one hour or more before and if that happened today, he would have no option but to let it go and change into his other gown. He had done it before and found himself in a serious quandary. That is why he always brought an extra gown with him to the court and kept it in his drawer, just in case. He hated this stupid case because unlike the others, he had received no specific orders at to what to do.

Often he was told jail the defendant for ten, fifteen, twenty years, for life, as the case might be. Or he was just told, kill him. Then he knew exactly what to do. But on this one, His Excellency had not issued any specific order to follow. He had just said, I want the defendant jailed. And so he had to call to make sure because he did not want to do anything stupid. One never knows with the Big Oga. Better sure than sorry. And so he pressed his thighs together and held on to the line for dear life.

After twenty long minutes, Justice Immasculate Fanabululu jumped in his seat when the unmistakable voice of His Powerful Excellency suddenly boomed into his buzzing head.

“Yes?”

“Eh Your Excellency, Justice Immasculate Fanabululu here. Sorry to interrupt your busy schedule sir. Hope your day is going well sir.”

Justice Immasculate Fanabululu had almost forgotten what he had called the president about. Beads of sweat ran down his face as he tried frantically to remember.

“Yes?”

“Yes sir Your Excellency. You know we are always here to serve you sir and sometimes we hate to disturb your busy schedule sir.”

“Look you better tell me why you called. Don’t you know that as head of state I have other important things to do?”

“Oh yes sir please accept my apologies sir. Eh - it’s about Case X sir. The defense lawyer is applying for bail and making a lot of noise about the constitution sir. But for me what is important is what Your Excellency wants me to do sir.”

“So why did you call then?” His Excellency sounded miffed, and that was not a good sign.

“Just to know what Your Excellency wants me to do sir because this lawyer is making a lot of noise in my court about bail and stuff sir.”

“You want to tell me that you don’t know what I expect you to do? If that is the case you better prepare to go back to your country. I have no time for this. Anyway, send them to jail without possibility of fines.”

“Yes Your Excellency sir . . .”

The line went dead. Justice Immasculate Fanabululu froze in mid sentence. His Powerful Excellency had loudly banged the phone on his ears and left him with the mournful drone of a dead line. Justice Immasculate Fanabululu was sweating profusely and shaking from head to toes. He had forgotten all about wanting to pee. He grabbed a kerchief and wiped his drenched face and neck. Clumsily placing down the receiver, he struggled to compose himself well enough to go back into the courtroom.

He cursed himself for his stupidity. He was simply trying to please the Big Oga and look what he has done to himself. The thought that he might be fired and sent back to his native country to become just another face among the crowds of uneducated tricksters was too terrible to contemplate.

He could never go through the same shit he had endured before receiving the support he needed to get on the list of interested candidates for magistracy in this country. He winced at the memory of the extreme humiliation he felt working as a pimp for corrupt politicians, cleaning the offices and toilets of useful contacts, sometimes being forced to bend down and get injected with streams of slimy rot. No, he would die if he was fired from that position. He would rather die. But maybe if he did the right thing today . . .

Back in the courtroom, a loud murmur arose from the audience as a stone-faced Justice Immasculate Fanabululu surfaced after what seemed like a century. He wasted no time in declaring the outcome of his reflection on the propriety of granting bail to the accused. As soon as order returned to the court, he announced his decision.

“After due consideration of the complexities involved in this very important case, I recognize that the accused have a right to bail according to the constitution and laws of this land,” he announced, pausing for dramatic effect as smiles lightened up the faces of the accused, the defense counsel, and the family and friends of the accused.

“However,” Justice Immasculate Fanabululu declared, “the defense counsel’s application for bail is hereby denied. The defendants are hereby sentenced to serve indefinite prison terms with no option of fines. Case closed.”