A photojournalist arrested for snapping a crowd of ruling party supporters in Gambia was still being held at the weekend, a security source told AFP. Alagie Manka was detained on the outskirts of the capital Banjul for taking pictures of President Yahya Jammeh supporters with a smartphone, a family member told AFP.
"Alagie Manka was Thursday afternoon arrested by soldiers who found him snapping a crowd of ruling party supporters that returned from nominating President Yahya Jammeh for the presidential election," a National Intelligence Agency (NIA) source told AFP Saturday on condition of anonymity.
The arresting soldiers transferred Manka to the NIA headquarters in Banjul for questioning.
"We are currently interrogating and screening him. He is not being maltreated by the agents," added the NIA source.
Manka is a freelance photojournalist and documentary filmmaker. His family members told AFP they had not seen him since Thursday.
A relative told AFP that Manka was arrested around a kilometre from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) headquarters, where Jammeh had submitted his candidature for the December 1 presidential election, for taking a picture on a smartphone and failing to produce an accreditation pass.
On Thursday, journalists accredited by the Electoral Commission had been warned by a military captain before Jammeh's arrival that they could use cameras but not smartphones to take pictures. A Daily Observer insider told AFP: "Yunus Salieu has been released by the NIA. He said he was not maltreated by the NIA.
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