Police spokesman assistant superintendent, Yerro Mballow said Mamadou Jallow, a reporter with the privately owned The Daily News, has been charged with defaming a local chief in the Central River Region.
According to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Jallow was arrested last Friday [6 January 2012]and charged three days later.
Mballow could not say when the journalist would appear in court.
For an article published on January 4, Jallow had interviewed local farmers who accused chief Mamadou Lamin Baldeh of mismanaging public assets. One, a rice farmer, claimed that a sponsored plane ticket meant for him to travel to Mecca for the hajj, had instead gone to Baldeh's lover.
President Yahya Jammeh sponsors 150 supporters to make the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca every year. The candidates are chosen by regional governors and the village chief is responsible for handing out the plane tickets.
Daily News editor, Saikou Ceesay said of Jallow's arrest, "The charges are bogus ... The journalist did his work professionally by contacting both parties involved in the story before going ahead with his story."
The case has been condemned by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the MFWA.
The MWFA said in a statement it was "appalled" and demanded "an immediate halt to this criminal prosecution." Rights bodies have documented the deaths and disappearances of high-profile journalists in the country.
During presidential elections in November Jammeh, who won a fourth term in office, said journalists are "free to write what you like, but you should be ready to be accountable.
"Somebody said that this country is a hell for journalists, well there are freedoms and there are responsibilities. Being a journalist does not mean license to kill. Character assassination will not be accepted."
Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
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