MFWA hails US Senator’s stance on disappeared Gambian journalist | Gambia |
Dakar, Senegal - The sub-regional media freedom body, Media Foundation fo r West Africa (MFWA), Friday hailed US Democrat Party Senator, Richard J Durbin’s stance on disappeared Gambian journalist, Chief Ebrima Manneh, saying the development was a pointer that the the abominable human rights situation in the Gambiawas gaining international attention.
In a communique’ signed by the Accra-based media rights body’s Executive Director, Professor Kwame Karikari, MFWA “encourages human rights defenders, press free d om advocates and civil society in general to intensify their advocacy, since that is one of the surest forms of protection for journalists".
According to MFWA, Senator Durbin, who is the assistant majority leader of the US Senate, recently condemned Gambian government over the disappearance of the journalist.
Addressing his colleagues 30 July, the senator said “my direct request to the Gambian Embassy here in Washington had also been met with shameful silence”.
“Is the Gambian government so afraid of one its own reporters that it cannot even acknowledge his detention?”
Durbin added: “I say to President Jammeh: release this reporter. Let him return to his family.”
He was said to have cited the 2004 murder of Journalist Deyda Hydara as another case in point of press freedom violation in Gambia.
Durbin concluded by urging the US Senate to be “a forceful advocate for these kinds of blatant human rights abuses. Doing so is not only the right thing to do, but it is the smart thing to do in terms of our engagement abroad and in demonstrating our American values.”
