Gambia

Sonko trial in Switzerland - Photo : Gambian Interior Minister Ousman Sonko at a conference on cluster munitions in Oslo (Norway) in 2008.

Podcast

19 December 2023 by Asymmetrical Haircuts

Sonko trial: what can we expect from Swiss justice? In this podcast produced with Asymmetrical Haircuts, two Justice Info correspondents take the floor. Mariam Sankanu, who is covering the post-Truth Commission period in Gambia. And Hannah el Hitami, who in Germany has covered seve [...]

At the end of his trial in Germany, Gambian Bai Lowe was found guilty of crimes against humanity committed in The Gambia.

AFP

30 November 2023 by AFP

German court sentences Gambian death squad member to life in prison A German court on Thursday sentenced a Gambian man to life in prison over his participation in a death squad that assassinated opponents of former dictator Yahya Jammeh, including an AFP journalist. Bai Lowe was convicted of crime [...]

Trial of Bai Lowe in Germany for crimes committed in the Gambia (universal jurisdiction)

28 November 2023 by Hannah El-Hitami

“Someone had to sacrifice themselves” Last Friday, a week before the verdict, the court in Celle heard the closing arguments of the defense and a final statement by Gambian defendant Bai Lowe. Both insisted on Lowe’s innocence and reiterated his claim that the self-in [...]

Bai Lowe is on trial in Germany for crimes committed in the Gambia. - Photo: Lowe enters the courtroom accompanied by police officers.

23 November 2023 by Hannah El-Hitami

“Bai Lowe tried to make amends for something beyond repair” The trial for crimes against humanity of Gambian Bai Lowe in Celle, Germany, is about to end. On the 16th and 17th of November, the prosecution and joint plaintiffs gave their closing statements. As a driver for former President Y [...]

Exhumations in Gambia - Pieces of cloth unearthed from a grave at Yundum military camp

24 August 2023 by Mariam Sankanu

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

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

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 [...]

Ousman Sonko indicted in Switzerland for crimes against humanity in Gambia

25 April 2023 by Julia Crawford

Gambian Ousman Sonko will be tried for crimes against humanity in Switzerland This is said to be the highest ranking individual to be prosecuted in Europe under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Ousman Sonko, former Interior Minister of The Gambia, was officially indicted on April 17 by a Swiss prose [...]

Baboucar

21 October 2022 by Hannah El-Hitami

Gambian trial in Germany: I posed as a “Jungler”, defendant says On Thursday 20 October, Baboucar “Bai” Lowe has given his first statement in six month of trial in Germany. The Gambian national, an alleged member of a notorious killing squad called the “Junglers” accused of crimes against human [...]

Gambian President Adama Barrow sits in a chair at an international diplomatic event. In the foreground: a small flag of Gambia.

30 September 2022 by Mustapha K. Darboe

Gambia: hope for justice fades 9 months after the Truth Commission report Victims and rights activists have raised concerns about the lack of Gambian government’s implementation plan of the 2021 Truth Commission’s recommendations. The vetting process is largely incomplete; the strategy for trials is unk [...]

Ensa Badgie prepares to testify (book in hand) at a Gambia Truth Commission (TRCC) hearing, next to an employee

5 September 2022 by Mustapha K. Darboe

Gambia: Suspect officials remain, as government stalls on TRC recommendations Activists are voicing the alarm. After its inquiry, the Gambia Truth Commission recommended that some 90 officials, largely in the security sector, be banned from public office or prosecuted. The government has committed itse [...]

The headquarters of the Gambian National Intelligence Agency (NIA) seen from above. Portrait of Ebrima Solo Sandeng in the inset.

18 July 2022 by Mustapha K. Darboe

Gambia: death penalty for former leaders of the national intelligence agency On July 13, 6 members of the top leadership of the National Intelligence Agency, a place notorious for torture and disappearance under the regime of Yahya Jammeh (1994-2017), were sentenced to death for their role in the 2016 kill [...]

A patrol of Senegalese soldiers in the forest of Casamance (Blaze Forest)

27 June 2022 by Mustapha K. Darboe

Swiss first step to investigate environmental crimes in Gambia Three years ago, the Swiss NGO TRIAL International filed a complaint against a Swiss businessman operating in the Gambia with the complicity of its former president Yahya Jammeh. The Swiss national is accused of having committed a [...]

Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow and Emmanuel Joof present white paper at press conference

23 June 2022 by Mustapha K. Darboe

Banjul working towards a hybrid Gambia-ECOWAS court In an interview with Justice Info Gambia’s Justice minister Dawda Jallow said his government has the political will to deliver justice for past crimes. No clear strategy has been explained yet and some victims doubt the government [...]

Bai Lowe (a

2 June 2022 by Hannah El-Hitami

Gambian trial in Germany: the thin line between witness and suspect In Celle, Germany, a former member of Gambia’s notorious “Junglers” is accused of crimes against humanity. One of his former comrades, with a very similar background, was expected to come as a witness to shed light on the death sq [...]

Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow speaks during a press conference on the Trutch Commission's report

26 May 2022 by Mustapha K. Darboe

Gambia validates Truth Commission's work and promises justice It is a milestone for the future of The Gambia. On Wednesday 25 May, the government, after five months of deliberation, finally said how it intends to implement the recommendations of the Truth Commission. Justice Minister Dawda J [...]

Yahya Jammeh and a

12 May 2022 by Mustapha K. Darboe

Gambia: Will the government prosecute returned Jammeh hit-men Nine former soldiers and members of the infamous “Junglers” hit-squad of former president Yahya Jammeh have returned to Gambia from exile and remain at large. Pending a government White Paper on the implementation of the Truth Com [...]

In Gambia, a woman holds a sign saying

25 April 2022 by Mustapha Darboe

Gambian dictatorship’s crimes go on trial in Germany On April 25, the trial of a former member of a hit squad – known as the “Junglers” – under Yahya Jammeh’s rule in The Gambia opens before a German court. Baboucar “Bai” Lowe is a self-confessed former driver of this paramilitary g [...]

Amnesty recommanded for Sanna Sabally

21 March 2022 by Mustapha K. Darboe

Who got amnesty from Gambia’s Truth commission, and who didn’t On March 16, Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission submitted its final recommendations to the government on 25 amnesty applications. Eight of them were denied. Former number 2 of the military junta Sanna Saball [...]