Muhammed S. Bah, president of Gambia Press Union, has expressed concern over attacks and arrests on journalists under the Barrow government despite the return of democratic rule.

Mr Bah made the statement at the Gambia Press Union National Journalism Awards at the Sun Beach Hotel. 

He highlighted that the Jammeh-era practices against the media are “resurfacing” under the Barrow administration. 

“As we have seen recent alarming statements from senior political leaders, including the President of the Republic of The Gambia, against the media and civil rights advocates – that could largely affect press freedom and freedom of expression,” he said. 

“There has also been arbitrary arrests and detention without charge or trial against journalists, media workers and civil rights advocates and the seizing of their mobile phones and an insistence on accessing whatever information that is stored in these phones by state security apparatus. 

“We have also witnessed physical attacks on journalists mainly by the police and political party activists – from both the ruling and opposition parties – for which no one is held accountable,” he added.

According to him, despite some of the cases being reported to the police “not a single investigation into a case was concluded, and no one has ever been prosecuted”.

He continued: “these practices remain a grave concern, and the failure of the State to bring perpetrators of crimes against Gambian journalists to justice, has helped sustained a cycle of violence against journalists for 29 years – covering a period from the dictatorship to the post-dictatorship era.”

Reporting by Adama Makasuba