Banjul - Police in Gambia on Tuesday arrested the editor and the general manager of a privately-owned weekly magazine, The Independent, and closed the paper's offices, according to the country's press union.
Demba Ali Jawo, co-ordinator of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), confirmed the arrests of general manager Madi Ceesay and editor Musa Saidy Khan.
The Independent, which is critical of President Yahya Jammeh's government, recently published a plea for government to co-operate with the private media.
The day after a foiled coup plot last week, the newspaper ran an article saying "Gambians are increasingly becoming impoverished while the head of state Yahya Jammeh is becoming richer". The piece criticised the government's social and economic management.
Last October, Khan was questioned by Gambian security authorities after he wrote an article denouncing the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of Deida Hydara, an Agence France Presse (AFP) correspondent killed by unknown gunmen in Banjul in 2004.
The Independent offices have been targets of several arson attacks in 2003 and 2004.
The New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CJP) expressed concern at the arrests.
"We are deeply troubled by this attack on one of Gambia's leading private newspapers," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper in a statement received in Banjul.
"Gambian authorities should release our colleagues immediately and unconditionally and allow The Independent to resume publishing without fear of reprisal," said Cooper.
In February, Information Minister Neneh MacDouall Gaye, told representatives of the private media that government intended "to improve its relationships with the independent media".
