Banjul - Gambian authorities have released without charge a journalist who was being held after he was arrested for a second time since September, he confirmed on Monday.
Baboucarr Ceesay, vice-president of the Gambia Press Union, was picked up by plainclothes officers of the National Intelligence Agency on Friday shortly after leaving his house.
The arrest came after he was held for nearly four days last September for seeking a permit from the police chief to hold a peaceful demonstration over the August execution of nine death row prisoners.
"What the authorities told me was that they are still investigating my case regarding our request for a permit to peacefully demonstrate against the executions last year," said Ceesay, a correspondent for the Kenya-based website Africareview.com.
A sliver of land nestled within Senegal with a narrow strip of Atlantic coast, Gambia is ruled with an iron fist by President Yahya Jammeh, who is often accused of muzzling journalists, among other rights abuses.
A journalist working for the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency over a month ago and remains in detention. - Sapa-AFP
IOLSA
Journalists are exposed to things like this. It's part of their profession. Good this one was released.