Sedition
is
defined
in
black’s
law
dictionary
9"
edition
as
an
agreement,
communication or other preliminary activity aimed at inciting treason or some lesser
commotion against public authority
Section 52 of the impugned law creates the offence of sedition thus:
(1) A person who —
(a)
does or attempts to do, or makes any preparation to do, or conspires with any
person to do, any act with a seditious intention;
(b) utters any seditious words;
(c)
prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces any seditious
publication;
(d) imports any seditious publication, unless he or she has no reason to believe that
it is seditious,
‘commits an offence...... 5
The plaintiffs grouse is not with the establishment of the offence per se but on the
definition of seditious intent under Section 51 to mean any action likely:
a) To bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the person
of
the President, or the Government of The Gambia as by law established
(b) To excite the inhabitants of The Gambia to attempt to procure the alteration,
otherwise than by lawful means, of any matter in the Gambia as by law
38
established;