Gambia plans constitution review process; criminal justice and media law priorities

The Gambia's press is set to win unprecedented freedom when its new government overhauls the constitution of former leader Yahya Jammeh, its freshly appointed justice minister said on Wednesday. Abubacarr Tambadou, a former UN assistant prosecutor, said on being sworn in that he hoped to remove restrictive laws on the media. "We will be starting a constitutional review process with a view to ensuring that our constitution is relevant and serves the purpose for which Gambians adopted it," Tambadou said. Reform "particularly in the criminal justice sector and media law reform," were priorities, he said. Journalists were regularly slapped with crimes including sedition, slander and publication of false news under Jammeh, offences described as "catch-all" by Amnesty International, and many served jail time. Original Source: