As Issue of Jurisdiction Reemerges

The sedition trial of Fatou Jaw Manneh, a Gambian journalist based in the United States of America, is in limbo as the issue of jurisdiction continues to hold up the trial.

The case, which was first filed at the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court, was later transferred to the Banjul Magistrates’ Court by Magistrate Buba Jawo on the ground that since the information was supposedly traced through the Internet in Banjul, Banjul Magistrates’ Court was therefore the right jurisdiction to try the matter.
When the case resumed yesterday before Magistrate Mboto of the Banjul Court, the issue of jurisdiction was again raised.

In her submission on the issue of jurisdiction Magistrate Mboto said that after going through the file, she noticed that the reason why the case was transferred to Banjul was because the information was reportedly traced in Banjul on the Internet. She however argued that by the same token, as the accused was arrested at Banjul International Airport, which falls within the jurisdiction of the Brikama administrative region, the right jurisdiction would be Brikama. 

Magistrate Mboto further asserted that because the information was traced on the Internet, which could be viewed everywhere, is no reason for the jurisdiction to be just anywhere. The right jurisdiction, she concluded, should be where the accused had been arrested