Human rights advocates watching Gambia are worried that abuses against perceived dissenters will rise as the November presidential election nears, killing any chance of a free and fair poll. Already the official campaign period - the only time opposition parties are given access to the media and allowed to actively campaign - has been shrunk to 11 days from four weeks, sparking concern among political leaders.

The former Gambian minister of Information who went missing in June has been found in one of the country’s jails after the police had denied knowledge of his whereabouts. A French news agency quoted Gambia’s police spokesperson Yerro Mballow of not being aware of the minister’s arrest and 'no idea where former he could be'. However, Justice Ministry officials confirmed that Mr Amadou Scattred Jannenh was being held in jail awaiting trial for treason and sedition.

The world is pleading for two Gambian journalists who could face capital punishment for distributing T-shirts that call for an end to dictatorship in their country. Last month the high court in Gambia charged Ms Ndey Tapha Sosseh and Mr Matthew K. Jallow with treason in a country where the death penalty is very much alive. The pair are presently in exile in two different West African countries. If the regime succeeds in roping the two journalists back home, they are most likely to be killed by a firing squad or by hanging, analysts say.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on 22 July 2011 joined Amnesty International-Ghana, Human Rights Advocacy Centre, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiatives (CHRI) and Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) to mark Gambia’s descent into tyranny. Over the years Amnesty International and its global partners including MFWA have been marking this so-called 'Freedom Day' annually with various campaign events to continue highlighting the grave human rights violations to the world for action.

Gambia feted the 17th anniversary of a coup by President Yayha Jammeh on 22 July as his regime faced allegations from rights bodies of muzzling journalists, killings and torture. Jammeh seized power in Gambia on 22 July 1994 in a bloodless coup from predecessor Dawda Jawara, and the anniversary is typically feted with more pomp than independence day celebrations. Rights bodies have accused the 46-year-old leader of creating a climate of fear which has terrified journalists and rights defenders into toeing the line and quashes any dissent against his regime.

Mouctar Diallo is a graduate student in Political Science and Anthropology/Sociology at the American University in Cairo and a Guinean National. He was arrested on April 30, 2011, three days after arriving in the Gambia to continue anthropological research he had begun in the Gambia the previous semester and had continued in his home country of Guinea. He spent over a week being questioned in jail and then was effectively under house arrest until June 28th, when the Gambian National Intelligence Agency (NIA) called him in again for questioning and told him they were making a case to prosecute him as a terrorist. They accused him of spreading Egyptian revolutionary ideas to Gambia. Since then, no one has been able to reach him.

Dr Amadou Scattered Janneh, a detained former Minister of Information and Communication and three others have been charged with treason for allegedly distributing anti-Jammeh materials, demanding an end to the authoritarian rule of President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia. Dr Janneh, an outspoken former minister went missing after his arrest on 7 June 2011. Dr. Janneh was whisked towards Banjul, the capital to an unknown location. On 13 June 2001, he was seen publicly for the first time after his arrest.

The privately-owned Standard newspaper which was in 2010 banned by the Gambia authorities has been given the green-light to operate. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that the decision was announced by the newly appointed State House Press Secretary, Fatou Camara, during a rare interaction between President Yahya Jammeh and media owners and editors in the country.

Sentenced to six months in prison after falling foul of Gambia’s Jammeh government, democracy and human rights activist Edwin Nebolisa talks to Pan-African Visions’ Ajong Mbapndah about his ordeal.

Taranga FM, a privately-owned local language radio station which was shut down on 13 January 2011, has reopened after the Gambian authorities issued a warning to the station’s management to stop reviewing what they described as 'opposition' newspapers. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s sources reported that the station is now back on air without its popular 'Xibari besbi', news and current affairs programme that reviewed newspapers in the Wolof language for most uneducated Gambians.

State security agents ransacked Teranga FM last week, a community radio station located outside the capital, and ordered its closure, Reporters Without Borders has learned from various sources. Launched in 2009, Teranga FM is based in Sinju Alajie, about 20 km west of Banjul, the capital. It is funded by donations from the local population and advertising.

The Ecowas Court of Justice in Abuja has declared the arrest and detention of Musa Saidykhan, a Gambian journalist, illegal and unconstitutional 'as it contravenes the Plaintiff’s human right to personal liberty as guaranteed by Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights'. The Court also awarded the Plaintiff $200,000 as damages for the violations of his human rights by the Gambian authorities.

The appeal by the Gambia’s former Chief of Defence against his death sentence for treason is being heard during December. An amendment to the country’s drugs and human trafficking laws could mean many more capital cases come before the courts. Besides Lang Tombong Tamba and his seven co-accused, the country’s death row holds, among others, Sulayman Bah, convicted of killing his housemate in a dispute over money.

A senior Iranian MP accused Gambia on Tuesday of bowing to pressure from the United States after the tiny African country severed ties with Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported. 'This move is seen as a result of American pressure as well as US policies aimed at damaging Iran's relations with different countries, including in Africa,' said Alaeddin Borujerdi, the head of parliament's foreign policy commission.

The trial of the two women's rights defenders, Dr. Isatou Touray and Amie Bojang-Sissoho, has been adjourned to 1 December. State prosecution officer Sainey Joof told the court that the case against GAMCOTRAP was not a civil case but that it was the state that had brought the case against the two senior officers of the organisation.

Two women's rights defenders – Dr Isatou Touray and Amie Bojang-Sissoho – are on trial in Gambia.

The last court hearing of the trial of Dr. Isatou Touray, the Executive Director and Amie Bojang- Sissoho, Programme Coordinator for the Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices (GAMCOTRAP) that took place on last Wednesday, 3 November 2010, before Magistrate Emmanuel Nkea of the Banjul Magistrates’ Court has begun to raise eyebrows, says a press release from a coalition of NGOs.

Dozens of NGOs have expressed their 'concern about the continued deterioration of freedom of expression in many parts of Africa in 2010' in a resolution adopted this week at a major gathering of civil society from across the continent. The 'Resolution on Freedom of Expression and Protection of Journalists' came out of the Forum on the Participation of NGOs held in Banjul, The Gambia, in advance of the start of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights ordinary session.

Urging his compatriots to remain grateful to him for his 'numerous developments and the transformation that has taken place in the country', Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh on Monday declared that he would not run for presidency in the 2011 elections, which will mark the end of his third five-year term. Jammeh told local authorities, politicians and other stakeholders drawn from all the regions in the country at the State House in Banjul, that democracy must be respected in the country, PANA reported from here Monday.

After spending ten days in detention the two prominent Women’s Human Rights Defenders were granted bail on Wednesday 20 October 2010 after a hearing in a crowded courtroom at the Banjul Magistrates Court. The bail was over US$50,000 each, and a surety with a landed property. Dr. Isatou Touray, the Executive Director and Amie Bojang-Sissoho, Programme Coordinator for the Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices (GAMCOTRAP) were arrested on 11 October 2010 by Gambian security personnel.