When the case was called before principal Magistrate Momodou S. Jallow of the Banjul Magistrates’ Court, the prosecuting officer, Inspector Manga, told the court that the prosecution was applying to withdraw the charge against the accused person in the lower court.
He said that since the charge before the high court and the lower court are the same, it would not be proper to try him on the same charge in separate court houses.
“We therefore urge the court to withdraw the charges against him in the lower court,” he said.
The application was granted by the trial magistrate, and the case was withdrawn accordingly.
Readers would recall that journalist Ceesay was earlier this year arraigned and charged with seditious intention.
The prosecutors accused Ceesay that on 16 July 2015 in Banjul and diverse places, he distributed pictures of President Yahya Jammeh to one Zainab Koneh and Fatou A. Drammeh, through his Africell mobile SIM card, which showed a gun pointed at the President, with the intention to raise discontent, hatred or disaffection among the inhabitants of The Gambia, and thereby committed an offence.
He denied the charge, and was subsequently refused bail by the lower court, which remanded him in prison custody until the high court was ready to proceed with the case.
