Chief Ebrima Manneh, 34, continues to languish in the custody of the Gambia after more than two years in detention. Agents of the Gambian National Intelligence Agency arrested Mr. Manneh, a senior reporter for the Bajul-based Daily Observer on July 7, 2006. The Gambia has since held him incommunicado. After being retained to represent him, on November 3, 2008, Freedom Now and Hogan & Hartson filed a petition to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on his behalf.

Mr. Manneh has suffered grave health problems during detention, including high blood pressure likely caused by his confinement. Apart from a fleeting visit to a state hospital, The Gambia has denied Mr. Manneh access to adequate medical care. Abysmal prison conditions likely aggravate his medical problems. He has been held in solitary confinement and forced to bear dehumanizing conditions as he and his fellow detainees sleep on hard floors in crowded cells. 

Beyond his dire health, Mr. Manneh is also at serious risk of being tortured. Numerous Gambrians allege credible claims of torture at the hands of their government.  According to the U.S. State Department, Gambian security forces have tortured defendants with "electrocution, cigarette burns, plastic bags held over people's heads, knife wounds, cold water treatments, and threats of being shot." 

Though The Gambia refuses to divulge the precise reason for his arrest, Mr. Manneh's detention is likely related to his attempt to republish a BBC News article that trace the source of Gambian President Alhaji Yanya Jammeh's power to a 1994 coup. Apparently, the Gambian government did not want this open fact publicized during a 2006 African Union Summit in Banjul. Mr. Manneh bore the brunt of this fear.

Organizations worldwide have decried Mr. Manneh's unjust detention. An illustration of the condemnation of his detention is a decision issued by the Community Court of Justice (CCJ) of the Economic Community of West African States. On June 5, 2008, the CCJ issued a seminal judgment declaring Mr. Manneh's detention to be in violation of international law. Under the binding order, The Gambia must release Mr. Manneh and pay $100,00 in damages to his relatives. The Gambian government, which did not defend itself in the CCJ proceedings, has ignored the ruling. The Media Foundation of West Africa directed Mr. Manneh's case before the CCJ and provided information that aided Freedom Now in submitting the case to the United Nations.  Previously, Amnesty International labeled Mr. Manneh a prisoner of conscience.

On November 18, 2009, Freedom Now released Opinion No. 14/2009 declaring that Mr. Manneh was, in fact, being detained in violation of international law.

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