By Baba Galleh Jallow
December 17, 2004. Deyda Hydara, 58, Editor and co-founder of The Point newspaper has been brutally murdered. Deyda was gunned down last night, around 11:00pm, as he drove home from his office.
It was the thirteenth anniversary of The Point and Deyda and his colleagues had spent the day celebrating. But for Deyda, the meal he had that day was his last. Among the guests at his office, chatting and talking, showing teeth hiding streams of hot blood, or just waiting nearby outside his office, were some men who knew that Deyda would not see the light of the day tomorrow.
As he drove home, an unmarked taxi cab overtook him, drove adjacent him, and a man in the front passenger seat pumped two bullets into an unwary Deyda’s head and one into his chest. He lost control of the car, which swerved into a ditch. He died on the spot. His passengers, two young ladies, members of his staff he had offered a ride home, suffered gunshot wounds to the legs. The killers sped past the spot where Deyda slumped over his steering wheel, his skull shattered, his chest punctured, drenched in his own innocent blood. Deyda, who could not even hurt a fly. Deyda, who stammered and smoked and was ever so cheerful even when engaged in heated debate over matters of principle. Deyda was also the Gambia correspondent for Reporters Without Borders and the French news agency AFP.
Who killed Deyda Hydara? Who wanted Deyda dead? What could be the motive for such cold-blooded murder of a 58-year old journalist who had spent all his life trying to make ends meet and who ran a small bi-weekly tabloid just mildly critical of the state? Clearly, as long as this regime remains in power, we will never get an answer to these questions. Investigations will be touted in the media for a while and then all would be silence. Deyda’s last shroud would be like the shroud of silence that still covers the gruesome murder and incineration of Finance minister Ousman Koro Ceesay. Deyda’s last shroud would be like the shroud of silence that surrounds the murder by security forces of twelve students and one radio journalist on April 10/11 2000. Deyda’s shroud will be like the shroud surrounding the killing by security forces of Lt. Almamo Manneh, of an unknown number of alleged coup plotters on the bloody night of November 11, 1994. I am certain that Deyda’s murderer will never be brought to book as long as the current regime is in power.
Deyda was an uncompromising champion of press freedom and respect for human rights. Over the past year, he had been at the forefront of the Gambia Press Union’s fight against the promulgation of the media commission that had more powers than the Supreme Court of the land. That law was repealed only to be replaced by an even more draconian piece of non-legislation that gave the state power to jail journalists for a minimum of six months without the option of a fine for publishing ‘untruths’. This new bill also increases the fee for the registration of a newspaper from a whopping hundred thousand dalasi (about $5,000) to an unbelievable five hundred thousand dalasi. Again, Deyda was at the forefront of the press union’s fight against this draconian bill. Clearly, the state had gotten tired of seeing Deyda oppose any piece of unjust legislation in this country. And if that indeed is the case, as many of us believe it is, then Deyda’s murderer will never be brought to justice as long as the current regime is in power, which could be for God knows how long.
Deyda’s murder is a very good indicator of where we are as a nation. It is a good indicator that yes, we were not mistaken in our accusations of the authorities that there is absolutely no security for the powerless in today’s Gambia. How could anyone claim the existence of security in a country in which journalists could be murdered with impunity, media houses set on fire with impunity, and police and soldier-brutality perpetrated against innocent civilians with impunity? Deyda's murder is a good indicator that in today’s Gambia, the murder of government critics can be committed with blatant impunity and no one would ever be arrested for it. Why? Because the police are afraid to ask too many questions. Because the NIA can look only so far. Because the police, the NIA and everyone else find themselves emasculated and reduced to pretending that what they see is really not what they see, and what they know is really not what they know. They all know, or at least suspect very strongly that they know, who killed Deyda Hydara. But they are blind and dumb to the truth because the truth is too ugly to contemplate.
Deyda’s murder is an act of terrorism. It is a good indicator that terrorism does not have to be male, Arab, skinny, with an eagle nose and long flowing beard; that terrorism could also be black, African, Gambian, with a head like a square piece of dead wood. Deyda’s murder is calculated to terrorize not only the Gambian media, but all Gambians. It is calculated to stun and petrify the people, to say to everyone that this is what happens to people who engage in activities like those Deyda engaged in. It is a calculated attempt to repeat the message that was sent out to the Gambian people on April 10 and 11, 2000, when 12 innocent school children and one radio journalist were murdered by security forces in broad daylight and no one was prosecuted for the murders. The message that whoever dares make too much unpleasant noise in The Gambia will go six feet deep, and nothing will come out of it.
But Deyda’s murder also represents a victory for the forces of truth and justice in The Gambia. Death, Foucault argues, is the ultimate defiance to state power; it is the point at which naked power is rendered totally impotent. By his death Deyda has dealt a devastating blow to the forces of evil in our country. He has exposed the shameful cowardice of those who, because they have the guns, feel that they can commit any crime and get away with it. He has, by his death, grown larger than life in the global imagination and focused the world’s attention on this small corner of the world where, for over ten years now, a small group of tyrants have lorded it over the people and broken every law in the book with ruthless impunity. If Deyda’s murderers were hoping to stop him from exposing their evil deeds, the ironic result is that by his death, Deyda has turned the full light of international attention on his killers. They have achieved the exact opposite of what, in their sick and jaundiced imaginations, they had set out to achieve. Not only are the world’s curious searchlights now fully focused on The Gambia, they will remain focused on The Gambia until the truth about Deyda is known and the culprits brought to justice in one way or the other. There is no doubt that one day, someone will stand in front of the world and say with total certainty, this is Deyda’s murderer. That day will come, and when it comes, those who feel that they can commit such despicable crimes with impunity shall be condemned to eternal damnation.
(culled from Mandela’s Other Children: The Diary of an African Journalist)
December 17, 2004. Deyda Hydara, 58, Editor and co-founder of The Point newspaper has been brutally murdered. Deyda was gunned down last night, around 11:00pm, as he drove home from his office.
It was the thirteenth anniversary of The Point and Deyda and his colleagues had spent the day celebrating. But for Deyda, the meal he had that day was his last. Among the guests at his office, chatting and talking, showing teeth hiding streams of hot blood, or just waiting nearby outside his office, were some men who knew that Deyda would not see the light of the day tomorrow.
As he drove home, an unmarked taxi cab overtook him, drove adjacent him, and a man in the front passenger seat pumped two bullets into an unwary Deyda’s head and one into his chest. He lost control of the car, which swerved into a ditch. He died on the spot. His passengers, two young ladies, members of his staff he had offered a ride home, suffered gunshot wounds to the legs. The killers sped past the spot where Deyda slumped over his steering wheel, his skull shattered, his chest punctured, drenched in his own innocent blood. Deyda, who could not even hurt a fly. Deyda, who stammered and smoked and was ever so cheerful even when engaged in heated debate over matters of principle. Deyda was also the Gambia correspondent for Reporters Without Borders and the French news agency AFP.
Who killed Deyda Hydara? Who wanted Deyda dead? What could be the motive for such cold-blooded murder of a 58-year old journalist who had spent all his life trying to make ends meet and who ran a small bi-weekly tabloid just mildly critical of the state? Clearly, as long as this regime remains in power, we will never get an answer to these questions. Investigations will be touted in the media for a while and then all would be silence. Deyda’s last shroud would be like the shroud of silence that still covers the gruesome murder and incineration of Finance minister Ousman Koro Ceesay. Deyda’s last shroud would be like the shroud of silence that surrounds the murder by security forces of twelve students and one radio journalist on April 10/11 2000. Deyda’s shroud will be like the shroud surrounding the killing by security forces of Lt. Almamo Manneh, of an unknown number of alleged coup plotters on the bloody night of November 11, 1994. I am certain that Deyda’s murderer will never be brought to book as long as the current regime is in power.
Deyda was an uncompromising champion of press freedom and respect for human rights. Over the past year, he had been at the forefront of the Gambia Press Union’s fight against the promulgation of the media commission that had more powers than the Supreme Court of the land. That law was repealed only to be replaced by an even more draconian piece of non-legislation that gave the state power to jail journalists for a minimum of six months without the option of a fine for publishing ‘untruths’. This new bill also increases the fee for the registration of a newspaper from a whopping hundred thousand dalasi (about $5,000) to an unbelievable five hundred thousand dalasi. Again, Deyda was at the forefront of the press union’s fight against this draconian bill. Clearly, the state had gotten tired of seeing Deyda oppose any piece of unjust legislation in this country. And if that indeed is the case, as many of us believe it is, then Deyda’s murderer will never be brought to justice as long as the current regime is in power, which could be for God knows how long.
Deyda’s murder is a very good indicator of where we are as a nation. It is a good indicator that yes, we were not mistaken in our accusations of the authorities that there is absolutely no security for the powerless in today’s Gambia. How could anyone claim the existence of security in a country in which journalists could be murdered with impunity, media houses set on fire with impunity, and police and soldier-brutality perpetrated against innocent civilians with impunity? Deyda's murder is a good indicator that in today’s Gambia, the murder of government critics can be committed with blatant impunity and no one would ever be arrested for it. Why? Because the police are afraid to ask too many questions. Because the NIA can look only so far. Because the police, the NIA and everyone else find themselves emasculated and reduced to pretending that what they see is really not what they see, and what they know is really not what they know. They all know, or at least suspect very strongly that they know, who killed Deyda Hydara. But they are blind and dumb to the truth because the truth is too ugly to contemplate.
Deyda’s murder is an act of terrorism. It is a good indicator that terrorism does not have to be male, Arab, skinny, with an eagle nose and long flowing beard; that terrorism could also be black, African, Gambian, with a head like a square piece of dead wood. Deyda’s murder is calculated to terrorize not only the Gambian media, but all Gambians. It is calculated to stun and petrify the people, to say to everyone that this is what happens to people who engage in activities like those Deyda engaged in. It is a calculated attempt to repeat the message that was sent out to the Gambian people on April 10 and 11, 2000, when 12 innocent school children and one radio journalist were murdered by security forces in broad daylight and no one was prosecuted for the murders. The message that whoever dares make too much unpleasant noise in The Gambia will go six feet deep, and nothing will come out of it.
But Deyda’s murder also represents a victory for the forces of truth and justice in The Gambia. Death, Foucault argues, is the ultimate defiance to state power; it is the point at which naked power is rendered totally impotent. By his death Deyda has dealt a devastating blow to the forces of evil in our country. He has exposed the shameful cowardice of those who, because they have the guns, feel that they can commit any crime and get away with it. He has, by his death, grown larger than life in the global imagination and focused the world’s attention on this small corner of the world where, for over ten years now, a small group of tyrants have lorded it over the people and broken every law in the book with ruthless impunity. If Deyda’s murderers were hoping to stop him from exposing their evil deeds, the ironic result is that by his death, Deyda has turned the full light of international attention on his killers. They have achieved the exact opposite of what, in their sick and jaundiced imaginations, they had set out to achieve. Not only are the world’s curious searchlights now fully focused on The Gambia, they will remain focused on The Gambia until the truth about Deyda is known and the culprits brought to justice in one way or the other. There is no doubt that one day, someone will stand in front of the world and say with total certainty, this is Deyda’s murderer. That day will come, and when it comes, those who feel that they can commit such despicable crimes with impunity shall be condemned to eternal damnation.
(culled from Mandela’s Other Children: The Diary of an African Journalist)
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