Abuja, Nigeria, January 9, 2013--Gambian authorities
should immediately release Abdoulie John, a journalist who has been detained without
charge in Banjul since Monday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
John has been harassed by the Gambian National Intelligence Agency since early
December, news reports said.
John, editor of the online news website Jollof
News and a contributor to The Associated Press, was summoned for
questioning at the headquarters of the NIA at around 2 p.m. on Monday, Lamin
Jahateh, a representative of the Gambia Press Union, who was with John at the
time, told CPJ. John was questioned for about three hours, he said. Emil Touray,
president of the union, told CPJ that the agents took John to his home where
they conducted a search, before returning him to custody.