Mr Ceesay |
Abdoulie Ceesay, Managing Director of Taranga FM,
who has been in the custody of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) since
July 17, was arraigned at a lower court in Banjul yesterday charged with a
single count of “seditious intention.”
Police
prosecutors alleged that, on or about the July 16, Ceesay distributed pictures
of the Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to two persons, Zainab Koneh and Fatou A.
Drammeh, using his Africell mobile SIM card. The said picture showed a gun
pointing at President Jammeh.
According to
the prosecutors, by distributing the pictures, Ceesay had the intention to
“raise discontent, hatred or disaffection among the inhabitants of The Gambia.”
Ceesay denied
any wrongdoing and was consequently remanded to police custody.
The MFWA’s
sources say Ceesay was charged under Section 51 (1) (d) of the Criminal
Procedure Code of The Gambia. According to Section 19 of the 1997 Gambian
Constitution and Section 99 of the country’s Criminal Procedure Code, offences
under the Section 51 are bailable. Despite these legal prescriptions, the
magistrate, Momodou M.S. Jallow, refused to grant Ceesay bail.
Ceesay was
first arrested on July 2, following what his brother describes as a critical
post on Facebook. He was released on July 13, then re-arrested on July 17 and
detained at the NIA until August 4, when he was charged with sedition.
If found guilty, Ceesay could be fined a minimum of
D50,000 (about US$1,200) and a maximum of D200,000 (US$4,800).
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