(JollofNews)- Amnesty International has called on the Gambian regime of Yahya Jammeh to immediately order a full and impartial investigation into the abduction of a private radio editor.
Alagie Abdoulaye Ceesay, managing editor of the independent radio, Teranga FM, was picked up on 2nd July 2015 by two men at his house in the Sinchu Alagie, West Coast region and his whereabouts are unknown.
Mr Ceesay’s radio station has been targeted in the past for airing discussions critical of Gambian politics. He was preparing to break his fast at home when a family friend dropped by and informed him that there were two men looking for him at the Teranga FM office.
Mr Ceesay’s friend accompanied him to the office not too far from his house. The two men waiting outside the office building asked to speak to Mr Ceesay alone and after a brief discussion between the three men, Mr Ceesay was led into the back of a black Mishubishi Pajero with tinted windows and no plates, and then taken away.
Mr Ceesay’s brother called him a few minutes later after arriving at the radio station’s office and learning about what had happened to his brother. Mr Ceesay answered the phone but was only able to say, “Get in contact with the Gambian Press Union (GPU)” before the phone went off. No one has heard from Mr Ceesay since then and there has been no information about his whereabouts.
Members of GPU together with Mr Ceesay’s brother filed a report at Old Yundum Police Station the following day at around 1pm. Later the same day, a cousin of Mr Ceesay went to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) headquarters in Banjul seeking to know where his cousin was because the two men who took him, though in plain clothes, were thought to be from the agency. The NIA denied any involvement in the abduction of Mr Ceesay.
Amnesty International said it concerned about the safety of Mr Ceesay and the Jammeh must immediately disclose his place of detention and promptly charge him with an offence consistent with international human rights law or else release him. It also called the regime to ensure that journalists, human rights defenders and activists can carry out their work without fear of retaliation, threats, intimidation and interference.
