Ebrima Manneh

{{Short description|Gambian missing journalist}} {{Infobox person | name = Ebrima Manneh | image = Ebrima Manneh.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = February 18, 1978 | birth_place = [[Lamin, Western Division]] | death_date = Probably mid-2008 | death_place = Allegedly in The Gambia | other_names = | known_for = 2006 [[Forced disappearance|disappearance]] | occupation = Journalist | organization = ''[[The Daily Observer|Daily Observer]]'' (1998-2006) | awards = [[Amnesty International]] Special Award for journalism under threat (2009) }} '''Ebrima B. Manneh''' (February 18, 1978<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chief Ebrima Manneh {{!}} Freedom Now|url=https://www.freedom-now.org/cases/chief-ebrima-manneh/|access-date=2021-08-24|website=www.freedom-now.org}}</ref>–2008?) was a [[The Gambia|Gambian]] journalist who was arrested in July 2006 and secretly held in custody.<ref name="CFP">{{cite web |url=http://www.cpj.org/2009/04/gambia-must-account-for-missing-journalist-ebrima.php |title=Gambia must account for missing journalist Ebrima Manneh |author= |date=14 April 2009 |publisher=[[Committee to Protect Journalists]] |accessdate=18 April 2011}}</ref> In March 2019, the Gambian newspapers ''The Trumpet'' and [[The Point (the Gambia)|''The Point'']] reported that Manneh died in mid-2008 while being taken from a police station to the [[Diabugu Batapa]] hospital. It is said that he was buried behind the local police station.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rsf.org/en/news/gambia-missing-editor-died-detention-2008-after-mistreatment|title=Gambia: Missing editor died in detention in 2008 after mistreatment {{!}} Reporters without borders|date=2019-03-22|website=RSF|language=en|access-date=2019-09-12|archive-date=2020-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421110336/https://rsf.org/en/news/gambia-missing-editor-died-detention-2008-after-mistreatment|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://trumpet.gm/journalist-manneh-died-on-road-to-diabugu-hospital/|title=Journalist Manneh Died On Road To Diabugu Hospital|last=Ceesay|first=Fabakary B.|date=2019-03-19|website=The Trumpet|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-12}}</ref>

==Background== A ''[[The Daily Observer|Daily Observer]]'' reporter, Manneh was reportedly arrested by state security after attempting to republish a [[BBC News|BBC]] report criticizing President [[Yahya Jammeh]] shortly before an [[African Union]] meeting in [[Banjul]]; his arrest was witnessed by coworkers.<ref name="CFP" /> Though ordered to release Manneh by an [[Economic Community Of West African States]] court, the Gambian government has denied that Manneh is imprisoned. According to [[Agence France-Presse|AFP]], an unnamed police source confirmed Manneh's arrest in April 2009, but added he believed Manneh "is no longer alive".<ref name="AFP">{{cite web |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izABjky1HY0Bz47DUuc3V3SaNLGQ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420053701/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izABjky1HY0Bz47DUuc3V3SaNLGQ |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 20, 2009 |title=Missing Gambia journalist is dead: police |author= |date=14 April 2009 |publisher=[[Agence France-Presse|AFP]] |accessdate=18 April 2011}}</ref> In June 2009, Manneh received the Special Award for journalism under threat from [[Amnesty International]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200906081644.html|title=Gambia: Special Award for Chief Manneh|last=Publisher|date=2009-06-08|work=FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)|access-date=2018-04-18}}</ref>

==Disappearance== {{Update|section|date=September 2019}} The ''[[Gambia Echo]]'' newspaper reported on January 13, 2007, that Manneh was in the [[Fatoto]] police station in December 2006. He is said to have been detained in various police stations in the country in the last five months before that, the last three in Fatoto. Meanwhile, human rights organizations, including [[Reporters Without Borders]], had drafted a petition to Gambian President Jammeh to secure Manneh's release. In recent months, the government had continued to deny knowing anything about Manneh's whereabouts. In late February 2007, a police spokesman spoke publicly about the Manneh case for the first time. However, this should never have been stopped at the named police stations. The police said they had received relevant statements from the population regarding Manneh's whereabouts.

When a journalist was investigating in April 2007, Manneh was no longer in [[Fatoto]]; it is said that he was relocated to an unknown destination in February. While police said they knew nothing about him, it was suggested that he had been transferred to [[Kombo]] at the time.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Gambia: Increasing Call for Release of Detainees|work=All Africa|url=https://allafrica.com/stories/200701180709.html}}</ref>

On March 16, 2011, President Jammeh is said to have made a statement to representatives of the press. At the time, he claimed that the government had nothing to do with Chief Manneh's death ("Let me make it very clear that the government has nothing to do with Chief Manneh's death"). Rumors of the death spread as early as June 2009.<ref name="CFP" />

Amnesty International considers him to be a [[prisoner of conscience]] and named him a 2011 "priority case".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amnestyusa.org/individuals-at-risk/priority-cases/gambia-ebrima-manneh/page.do?id=1361052 |title=Ebrima Manneh |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |accessdate=17 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429082908/http://www.amnestyusa.org/individuals-at-risk/priority-cases/gambia-ebrima-manneh/page.do?id=1361052 |archive-date=29 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Committee to Protect Journalists]] has also called for his release and demanded that authorities account for his disappearance.<ref name="CFP" /> The Committee described his arrest as part of "a climate of fear created by the unsolved murder of prominent Gambian editor [[Deyda Hydara]], a series of unsolved arsons of media houses, and a pattern of government intimidation and prosecution of journalists."<ref name="CFP" />

In January 2017, his family was informed of his death.<ref>{{cite web |title=11 years on, justice for journalist's death crucial |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2017/07/gambia-11-years-on-justice-for-journalists-death-crucial/ |publisher=Amnesty international |access-date=21 September 2022 |date=7 July 2017}}</ref> They were not given any information as to how he had died nor who was responsible. In November that same year, the government of Gambia showed they were ready to compensate Manneh's family for the violation of rights by Yahya Jammeh's administration. The payment was to comply with the rulings of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-09-23 |title=Ebrima Manneh {{!}} Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission |url=https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/Ebrima-Manneh |access-date=2024-09-30 |website=humanrightscommission.house.gov |language=en}}</ref>

In March 2019, ''The Point'' newspaper reported that Manneh died in mid-2008, while being transported from a police station to Diabugu Batapa hospital. It is said that he was buried behind the local police station.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2021-04-15|date=2019-03-22|language=en|title=Gambia: Missing editor died in detention in 2008 after mistreatment {{!}} Reporters without borders|url=https://rsf.org/en/news/gambia-missing-editor-died-detention-2008-after-mistreatment|website=RSF|archive-date=2020-04-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421110336/https://rsf.org/en/news/gambia-missing-editor-died-detention-2008-after-mistreatment|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also== * [[List of people who disappeared mysteriously: post-1970]]

==References== <references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manneh, Ebrima}} [[Category:1978 births]] [[Category:2000s missing person cases]] [[Category:Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by the Gambia]] [[Category:Disappeared journalists]] [[Category:Gambian journalists]] [[Category:Gambian prisoners and detainees]] [[Category:Missing people]] [[Category:Missing person cases in Africa]]