[Gambia] Africtivistes strongly condemns the arrest of blogger Sait Matty Jaw in Gambia

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On Wednesday 5 November 2014, young activist Sait Matty Jaw, who campaigns for social and economic equality, was arrested by the Gambian police secret service, commonly known as the NIA (National Intelligence Service).

On his return from Baku, Azerbaijan, where the first Global Forum on Youth Policy was held with the United Nations, Sait Matty Jaw was arrested by the police without explanation. He remains in detention at an undisclosed location.

Here is the information our contact on the ground provided about his arrest:

“He worked with Ghanaians on a study in The Gambia. They trained a few people to collect information for the study. I heard that they were supposed to obtain authorisation from the National Bureau of Statistics, but they didn’t. The government thinks it was sabotage. That’s what a friend told me.

I was also told that the study asked questions about Jammeh’s government (ed. note: the Gambian head of state).”

Sait Matty Jaw is an active member of the African youth activists network. He had just taken part for the second time in youth consultations organised by the African Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through Dgtrend, in Dakar in 2013 and Nairobi in 2014. He was one of two Gambians in his country’s delegation, representing young people in the development of a global youth policy strategy.

For the record, The Gambia, a West African country, is ranked among the worst countries for press freedom (155th out of 180 in 2014), according to Reporters Without Borders.

We, the League of African Bloggers and Activists for Democracy, strongly condemn this arrest and demand the unconditional release of Sait Matty Jaw.