A court in Gambia has declared illegal the arrest and ongoing detention of journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh and ordered Gambian authorities to release him.

The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also ordered the Gambia government to pay US$100,000 as damages to Mr Manneh. The reporter, from the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper, was arrested by state security agents in his office on 7 July 2006. Since then he had been moved from one police station to another, with the government denying any knowledge of his whereabouts.

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