Prominent Gambian journalist dies

Gambians are mourning the death one of the country’s best-known journalists. Pa Nderry Mbai, who died in the US after a short illness last week, played a key role exposing human rights abuses and other injustices during former President Yahya Jammeh's time in office. He was 61. BBC News reports that two decades ago during a fierce clampdown on the media, Mbai moved to the US and launched his Freedom Online news portal. Jammeh made it a crime for anyone to read it and the website was repeatedly hacked. The Point reports that President Adama Barrow said Mbai ‘contributed a lot in the struggle to liberate The Gambia from dictatorship’. 'I extend my condolences to his family and pray that Allah grants him mercy,’ he said.