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Mariam Sankanu

Gambia - Correspondent

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Mariam Sankanu is a Gambian investigative journalist with Malagen, The Gambia’s premier media platform specialised in investigative journalism and fact-checking. She had previously worked with African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances, a civil society organization. Mariam is a graduate of the School of Journalism and Digital Media at the University of The Gambia.

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In Gambia, a special tribunal has been set up in partnership with Ecowas to try crimes committed under the dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh. The question now is how it will be funded. Photo: In 2017, Jammeh prepares to leave Gambia for Equatorial Guinea. He smiles and waves to the crowd at the door of a plane.
Gambia: a special court in search of funds
18 March 2025 by Mariam Sankanu (our correspondent in Banjul)
In Gambia, a special tribunal has been set up in partnership with Ecowas to try crimes committed under the dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh. The question now is how it will be funded.
Bora Colley (ex-Jungler) has surrendered to the authorities in Gambia. Gambia: why “Jungler” Bora Colley turned himself in after eight years
24 September 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (our correspondent in Banjul)
After eight years of exile Bora Colley, a former “Jungler” member of President Yahya Jammeh’s hit squad, last month turned himself in to the Gambia Armed Forces. The event raises several questions, both in terms of border security [...]
The parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) opposed support for a special court for Gambia under Yahya Jammeh. Photo: bird's-eye view of the parliament's main chamber. Why Gambia suffered a setback at Ecowas Parliament for Special Tribunal
3 September 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (our correspondent in Banjul)
The July decision of the regional ECOWAS parliament not to support a special tribunal in charge of trying the crimes of former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh was a blow to the Gambian government. But it may just be a delay in the pro [...]
Will there soon be trials for Yahya Jammeh's crimes in Gambia? - Photo: Gambian President Adama Barrow adopts a wait-and-see stance at a meeting of African countries belonging to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Gambia: the end of the wait-and-see strategy?
17 May 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (our correspondent in Banjul)
On April 22, two bills expected to kickstart the prosecution process for crimes committed under the 22-year rule of former President Yahya Jammeh were passed at the Gambian Parliament. They should make it possible to establish a h [...]
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Sonko trial in Switzerland: former Gambian Interior Minister Ousman Sonko found guilty of crimes against humanity, including the murder of Solo Sandeng. Photo: Fatoumata Sandeng, daughter of Ousman Solo Sandeng, holds a sign reading “I am Solo”.
16 May 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (in Bellinzona, Switzerland)
Ousman Sonko gets maximum punishment The trial against former Interior minister of The Gambia, Ousman Sonko, came to a wrap on May 15. The Swiss Federal Court of Bellinzona handed him a 20-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity. This is the highest sentence [...]
At the trial of Ousman Sonko in Switzerland (where he is on trial for crimes committed in the Gambia), the defence team, led by Philippe Currat, poses in front of the Federal Court in Bellinzona.
14 March 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (in Bellinzona, Switzerland)
Sonko trial: final words before the verdict Closing arguments have now ended in the trial of former Gambian interior minister Ousman Sonko at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona. “If a country as rich and developed as yours is unable to provide its prisoners with [...]
Gambia - Trial of Ousman Sonko in Switzerland. Photo: in front of the Swiss Federal Court in Bellinzona.
7 March 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (in Bellinzona, Switzerland)
Ousman Sonko, the “mastermind” On March 4, the prosecution concluded its closing arguments in the trial of Ousman Sonko, in Switzerland. They asked for the former interior minister of the Gambia to be sentenced to life for a number of serious crimes committed i [...]
Hearing before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of The Gambia (TRRC)
4 March 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (our correspondent in The Gambia)
How Gambia’s truth commission findings shaped the Sonko trial The trial of Ousman Sonko, former Interior minister of The Gambia, resumes today in Switzerland. Parties are expected to present their closing arguments. A striking fact of the evidence put before the Swiss court last January was [...]
25 January 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (in Bellinzona, Switzerland)
Witness hearings end in Sonko’s trial Eleven witnesses have testified in the trial of Ousman Sonko, a former Interior minister of The Gambia accused of crimes against humanity before a Swiss court. Evidence covered alleged sexual violence, two murders, the brutal repr [...]
Solo Sandeng, opposition leader in Gambia, died in prison following his arrest during a demonstration in 2016. Photo: A demonstration by Sandeng's relatives at his official funeral in 2023.
22 January 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (in Bellinzona, Switzerland)
The order to “shoot” and “kill” Solo Sandeng The trial of Gambia’s former Minister of Interior Ousman Sonko is entering its third week in Switzerland. The court heard evidence on the violent repression of April 2016 protests and the death of the opposition leader Solo Sanden [...]
Sonko trial (Gambia) - Portrait of Baba Jobe inlaid into the decor of the courtroom at the Swiss federal court in Bellizone.
18 January 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (in Bellinzona, Switzerland)
Sonko trial: who is responsible for the murder of Baba Jobe? On January 15, for the first time publicly, a former prison guard gave evidence before a Swiss court on the murder of former Gambian businessman and politician Baba Jobe while detained in 2011. At the time, the accused Ousman Sonk [...]
At the Ousman Sonko trial in Switzerland, Gambian plaintiffs pose at the entrance to the court in Bellinzona.
12 January 2024 by Mariam Sankanu (in Bellinzona, Switzerland)
Ousman Sonko faces the first witness The trial of former Gambian Interior minister Ousman Sonko started in Switzerland on January 8. While he denied all allegations against him, the accused had to listen to the first witness, the widow of a soldier he is accused of h [...]
Exhumations in Gambia - Pieces of cloth unearthed from a grave at Yundum military camp
24 August 2023 by Mariam Sankanu (our correspondent in Banjul)
Gambia: why after four years identity of the exhumed remains unknown? In four years since the mediatized exhumation of seven bodies in a military camp near Banjul, neither the Truth and Reconciliation commission nor any institution in The Gambia have done anything to identify them. Civil society rem [...]
Enforced disappearances in The Gambia - Photos of people who disappeared during Yahya Jammeh's reign.
3 July 2023 by Mariam Sankanu (our correspondent in Banjul)
The disappeared in The Gambia, a missing investigation In its recently disclosed implementation plan, the Gambian government says it will set up a task force to complete and expand the work accomplished by the Truth commission on enforced disappearances. Four cases involving five indi [...]
Transitional justice in The Gambia - President Adama Barrow has published a plan to implement the recommendations of the Truth Commission.
1 June 2023 by Mariam Sankanu (in Banjul, The Gambia)
Is The Gambia a step closer to moving on with trials and reparations? On May 12, the Gambian president Adama Barrow has issued an implementation plan of the 2021 recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission. He has announced a 9-million euro pledge by the European Union. A [...]