Gambian security forces released a local British Broadcasting Corporation reporter on Tuesday who was detained in a crackdown on journalists suspected of links to a controversial US-based online newspaper.
Lamin Cham, a correspondent for the BBC's English language African service, was picked up last Wednesday by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on suspicion of links to the online Freedom Newspaper (www.freedomnewspaper.com).
"I was questioned about whether I was contributing to the Freedom Newspaper but the NIA did not find anything incriminating," Cham told Reuters.
Cham was one of close to a dozen people detained in a round-up of those suspected of helping or subscribing to the Web site, run by Gambian journalist Pa Nderry Mbai from the United States.
Most were later released. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said the arrests came after the Web site was hacked on May 22, when its usual content, often critical of the government, was replaced with a pledge of loyalty to a close associate of President Yahya Jammeh.
Jammeh, who has ruled the tiny West African former British colony since a coup in 1994, has come under increasing criticism from press freedom groups since a leading independent journalist was gunned down in 2004. Political tensions appear to have increased in the run up to presidential elections due in October.
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