Gambia revokes Al-Jazeera permits for coverage of human interest stories

Some Al-Jazeera journalists here Tuesday saw their permits revoked by Gambia's Ministry of Information and Communication, official sources at the ministry said.

"The team of Al-Jazeera journalists were in Banjul to film and report on human interest stories but were later turned down by the authorities," the sources said.

"They were asked to stop filming or risk being arrested after the government annulled their credentials," they said.

Gambia's Ministry of Information, which issued the permits to the journalists, said the team could not film until further authorization was given from the West African country's President Yahya Jammeh, who at the time was on vacation in his hometown Kanilai.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Catherine Wambuo-Soi was going to interview Jammeh on the topic of migration of Gambian youths and other human interest issues for his HIV treatment program.

"We have got approval from the government to travel to Banjul to do some human interest stories, but unfortunately a day after our arrival, we were told by our fixer that the government through the ministry of information has asked us not to film anything or else risk being arrested," she said.

Gambia's government did not give any particular reason for the revocation of the permits.

The team has left Banjul via Dakar and is now in Nairobi, Kenya. Endi