July 7, 2013 marked
exactly 7years since Chief Ebrimah Manneh, a reporter of the pro-government
newspaper, Daily Observer, in the Gambia disappeared. Chief Manneh was
on July 7, 2006 arrested by officers of the Gambia National Intelligence Agency
(NIA) following an attempt to republish an article he downloaded from the
internet, which was critical of President Yahya Jammeh’s administration.
He has since been
globally regarded as a victim of ‘forced’ disappearance because the Gambian
government continues to deny custody of him and has clearly refused to conduct
any investigations into his whereabouts.
Within the
period (July 2006 – July 2013) Gambia’s senior government officials, including
President Jammeh, Marie Saine-Firdaus, the former Minister of Justice, Edward
Gomez, former Attorney General, Yankuba Sonko, Inspector General of Police have
made conflicting statements about his whereabouts.
