The Gambia
Citizen FM wins case

afrol.com, 4 July - Baboucar Gaye, the founder of the disputed private radio station Citizen FM, yesterday won the case put against him by The Gambian state. This is seen as a great victory for everybody fighting for the cause of human rights in The Gambia. The Citizen FM case has been a showcase on the state of human rights in The Gambia for two years now.

In February 1998 Baboucar Gaye, the proprietor of Citizen FM, a private radio station, was arrested by the police and briefly detained, the human rights organisation Article19 informs. The station was closed down by the authorities and essential equipment confiscated. Six months later, he was convicted of operating a radio station without a license and was ordered to pay a fine and to forfeit the station's equipment to the government.

Yesterday, on 3 July 2000 the presiding judge quashed the conviction and sentence as well as the forfeiture of the radio station to the state. "The order of this court is that the respondents (the state) restore to the appellant (Baboucar Gaye) his radio and apparatus within seven days," the judgment concluded.

Citizen FM has clearly been singled out for rough justice. The authorities appear to have been particularly concerned that reports in the English-language independent media were, thanks to Citizen FM, reaching a far broader audience through radio broadcasts made in both Mandinka and Wolof, two of the most widely spoken languages in The Gambia. Citizen FM's broadcasts, which were listened to by a large number of people in the Greater Banjul area, were an embarrassing counterpoint to the anodyne broadcasts of the state-owned Gambia Radio and Television Service (GRTS), Article19 stated. 

Background
Citizen FM soon came into the focus of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). The NIA, established in 1995 by government decree, reports directly to the President but is otherwise autonomous.

In early 1998, the NIA closed the country's leading independent radio station, Citizen FM, after it broadcast a report that a senior NIA official had been implicated in a currency counterfeiting scheme. The station also was charged with failure to pay its licensing fees. The station's owner and news editor were detained briefly. Despite the controversy over licensing fees, a government press release made it clear that the station's editorial policies were a principal reason for the government action. The press release warned about "disciplinary measures" for reporting "allegations and unconfirmed rumors." In July 1998, a magistrate's court ordered that the station be forfeited to the Government for failure to pay the licensing fees, despite repeated offers by the station's ownership to pay past due accounts. The station's ownership has appealed the judgment; the trial resumed at the High Court in June 1999, but was adjourned until 2000. 

The Daily Observer, the Gambia's leading independent newspaper, also has experienced significant governmental interference. In May the Daily Observer was sold to a businessperson said to be more amenable to President Jammeh than the previous management. Nevertheless, Daily Observer reporters still encounter politically motivated resistance. In September a reporter from the Daily Observer and the editor in chief were arrested and detained for questioning, subsequent to an Observer article reporting on an alleged military skirmish in the President's home village. The editor in chief was released after 2 hours and the reporter released after 48 hours. 

Sources: Based on Article19 and U.S. State Department

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