The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has reechoed its stance on the need for the Gambia Government to allow independent investigation into the murder of Deyda Hydara, in order for the perpetrators of this heinous crime to be brought to justice. “It has now been four years since the callous murder of Deyda Hydara and yet still no one has been charged for this grave crime against humanity” said Gabriel Baglo Director of the IFJ Africa office.

The fired managing director of The Gambia's pro-government 'Daily Observer' newspaper has been discharged by the court. Mr. Dida Halake, whose nationality remains unclear, was discharged by a local magistrates' court after the prosecution filed an application to withdraw criminal case against him. The prosecution said this will allow it to put its house in order.

The Minority leader in The Gambian Parliament, Momodou Sanneh on July 3, 2008 called on the government of President Yahya Jammeh to respect the ECOWAS court ruling by releasing Chief Ebrima Manneh, a detained reporter of the Banjul-based privately-owned government-controlled newspaper.

On July 7, 2008 Chief Ebrima Manneh, a Gambian journalist, will be spending 730 days in detention in an undisclosed location in Gambia. The continued detention demands that his family, colleagues and human rights advocates continue to pressure the Gambian authorities about his whereabouts. The disappearance of the 30 year-old journalist has left his mother and father in a state of hopeless devastation and continues to put fear in journalists and other citizens of the Gambia.

Justice Momodou Darboe, a journalist with The Point, a Banjul-based privately-owned independent daily newspaper, was violently attacked by an armed man on July 1, 2008. Darboe suffered serious body injuries.

The Kanifing Court trying Dida Halake, former Managing Director of the Observer Company Limited, publishers of the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper, on June 25, 2008 granted him bail after almost two weeks in detention.

A Banjul Magistrate court presided over by Buba Jawo on June 23, 2008 dismissed the case of sedition preferred against Dida Halake, detained former Managing Director of the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that it followed a request by Halake’s counsel Lamin Jobarteh. The police prosecutor had earlier sought an adjournment to enable them correct a drafted charge sheet that had been poorly written.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is asking Heads of state for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), meeting for the 34th Ordinary Summit in Abuja, particularly its current chairman, President Blaisé Compoare to ensure that the government of President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia releases detained Gambian journalist, Chief Ebrima Manneh, unconditionally.

Saikou Ceesay, a reporter with the Banjul-based opposition Foroyaa newspaper was on June 15, 2008 arrested and detained overnight in Kotu Police Station in Kombo province, about 11 kilometres South/West of Banjul ,capital of Ghana.

In a landmark decision delivered on June 5, 2008, The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Nigeria declared the arrest and detention of Chief Ebrima Manneh illegal and ordered the Gambian authorities to immediately release him.

Reporters Without Borders welcomes a regional court ruling ordering Gambia to release Chief Ebrima Manneh, a reporter who was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency on 7 July 2006 and has been missing ever since. The ruling, issued on 5 June by the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), is the first of its kind concerning a journalist.

President Yahya Jammeh’s reported threats to expel or kill lesbian and gay people not only encourage hatred, but also contribute to a climate in which basic rights can be assaulted with impunity, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the president. Human Rights Watch called on Jammeh to completely disavow all such statements, and to work toward repealing the country’s colonial-era sodomy law, which allows arbitrary and discriminatory arrests and invasion of privacy.

The parents of five daughters of Gambian descent have been detained in Oslo, Norway, after a human rights group revealed all the girls had been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) in The Gambia. The youngest girl, aged five, has been taken away from parents, while the elder four are with family in The Gambia.

The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Nigeria, will on June 5, 2008, deliver its verdict in the case of the "disappeared" Gambian journalist, Chief Ebrima Manneh. The Government of The Gambia, which is the defendant in the case, has throughout the proceedings refused to cooperate with the ECOWAS Court, and the judgement will therefore be given without the testimonies of five state agents, who failed to make an appearance before the court on March 11, 2008.

Gay rights activists have condemned Gambian President Yahya Jammeh`s threat to behead homosexuals. Last week he told a political rally that gay people had 24 hours to leave the country. He promised "stricter laws than Iran" on homosexuality and said he would "cut off the head" of any gay person found in The Gambia.

The struggle which culminated in the murder of Deyda Hydara, an ardent critic of the regime of President Yahya Jammeh, three years ago, has been given meaning with the launch of his biography in The Gambia. The book entitled: “A Living Mirror: The Life of Deyda Hydara” focuses more on the life of the journalist, rather than his death. It was jointly published by Demba Ali Jawo, former Gambia Press Union (GPU) president and Aloa Ahmed Alota, a Nigerian journalist based in The Gambia and Editor at The Point Newspaper.

The protracted sedition trial against Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist, was on April 24, 2008, adjourned to April 30 by Magistrate Buba Jawo of the Kanifing Magistrates Court. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources in The Gambia reported that the adjournment was due to the absence of defence counsel, Lamin Jobarteh, who was said to be engaged in another case at the Brikama Magistrate Court.

The Kanifing Magistrate Court trying Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist for alleged sedition on April 21, 2008 restricted the general public from the trial by ruling that only Manneh's family members and two journalists were to be admitted to the court. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that the ruling followed an earlier application filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of The Gambia, Emmanuel Fagbenle.

The sedition trial against Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist, was on April 14, 2008, adjourned to April 21 by Magistrate Buba Jawo of the Kanifing Magistrates Court. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that Jawo, adjourned the case on the grounds that defence lawyer, Lamin Jobarteh, was indisposed.

The Kanifing Magistrates Court will on April 16, 2008, hear the case of Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist on trial for an alleged sedition. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that this followed the retrieval of Manneh’s file, which was reported missing at the last hearing on March 17, 2008.