Omar Bah says he plans to launch a private, independent newspaper in Gambia that will be an alternative to government-controlled media there.

Bah is a former Gambian journalist. He says he fled the country in 2006 after being beaten, kicked and tortured while trying to cover a secret trial. He arrived in Rhode Island in 2007. He directs the Providence-based Refugee Dream Centre.

Bah announced his plans in a First Amendment blog run by Roger Williams University.

He says he's motivated by a government crisis involving Gambia's longtime ruler, President Yahya Jammeh, who lost a December 1 election but hasn't accepted defeat.

--AP--

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