Metro

Germany charges former Gambian President Jammeh’s hitman with crimes against humanity

Published

2 years ago

March 7, 2022

The German authorities have charged a member of Gambia’s former leader Yahya Jammeh’s “hit squad” the junglers, Bai Lowe with crimes against humanity.

The former member of the army unit was charged for being part of the squad that carried out assassination on behalf of former Gambian leader.

Lowe – an ex-military – was arrested on March 16, 2021 on the basis of an arrest warrant from the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice and has been in custody since then.

Pp federal prosecutor announced that the country has filed charges against Lowe on suspicion of crimes against humanity, murder and attempted murder.

Lowe is alleged to have been involved in three “liquidation orders” and driving other Junglers to attack sites.

Among those targeted were the prominent newspaper editor, Deyda Hydara, a critic of the Jammeh government who was murdered in 2004, an alleged opponent, Dawda Nyassi, who was killed in 2006, and a lawyer, Ousman Sillah, who survived a murder attempt a year earlier. Lowe himself described his participation in these events in 2013 and 2014 radio interviews.

According to the indictment, between December 2003 and December 2006, Bai Lowe was a driver of the so-called “Patrol Team” of the Gambian Armed Forces (also known as “Junglers”).

The German prosecutors also accused Lowe, who was living in the city of Hannover, of having notably driven his accomplices to various crime scenes between December 2003 and December 2006.

“This unit was used by the Gambian president at the time, among other things, to carry out illegal killing orders. The aim was to intimidate the Gambian population and suppress the opposition. Against this background, the accused was involved in a total of three such liquidation orders,” German federal prosecutor said.

The prosecutor added: “At the end of December 2003, the accused’s unit was ordered to kill a lawyer in Banjul, the capital of Gambia. In his capacity as driver, the accused transported the other members to the scene of the attack. There, a member of the unit fired several shots at the lawyer who survived the act with serious injuries. A year later, the Patrol Team killed a Gambian journalist critical of the government. To this end, the unit, with the participation of Bai Lowe, stopped the journalist’s car on a street in the town of Kanifing. Two members of the unit then killed him with multiple shots, with Bai Lowe transporting one of the shooters in his vehicle.”

The prosecutor argued that in the aftermath, probably in 2006, members of the unit shot dead a suspected opponent of Jammeh near Banjul Airport.

According to Philip Grant, Executive Director of TRIAL International, who has provided evidence to the German authorities about this case, “the charges will lead to the opening of the first trial based on universal jurisdiction to judge the atrocities committed under Jammeh’s regime, and it would allow to shed light on the paramilitary unit of the Junglers and their ties to the former president, further preparing the ground for his prosecution.”

“The long arm of the law is catching up with Yahya Jammeh and his accomplices around the world,” said Reed Brody, a Commissioner with the International Commission of Jurists who works with Jammeh’s victims. Jammeh’s henchmen have been arrested in Germany, Switzerland and the United States, and the Gambian truth commission has called for the prosecution of his accomplices in The Gambia, and of Jammeh himself, now in Equatorial Guinea.”

Metro

DR Congo colonel sentenced to death for killing of anti-UN protesters

Published

2 hours ago

October 4, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

A DR Congo Army Colonel has been sentenced to death after he was found guilty in the killing of more than 50 anti-UN demonstrators in August.

Col Mike Mikombe, who was at the time the Commander of the Republican Guard in Goma city, was accused of giving orders to soldiers to open fire on anti-UN protesters in what was described as the highest number of deaths in a crackdown on protests against UN peacekeepers in eastern DR Congo.

The senior military officer was tried along with five other soldiers, with three of them sentenced to 10 years in prison, while two others, including Col Mikombe’s deputy, were acquitted.

The protesters had demanded the withdrawal of UN troops from the city after accusing them of failing to protect civilians from attacks by rebel groups in the region.

The August protests were organised by a Christian sect known as Wazalendo or The Patriots, to demand the departure of UN troops from the region.

The protesters also wanted the regional governor, Ndima Kongba, who had earlier banned the demonstrations, to resign.

State prosecutors told the court that 56 civilians were killed and dozens others wounded during the demonstrations, sparking international condemnation.

The prosecutors also told the court that amid chaotic scenes, troops opened fire at the protesters on the instruction of Col Mikombe.

“He had suggested that he had been misled by an operational order identifying the sect members as proxies of the M23 rebel group, which had captured large swathes of territory in North Kivu province last year,” the prosecutors said.

Metro

Seychelles main opposition leader, Patrick Herminie arrested for ‘witchcraft’

Published

3 hours ago

October 4, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Seychelles main opposition leader, Patrick Herminie has been arrested and charged with witchcraft, after police discovered and exhumed two bodies from a cemetery on the island of Mahé.

Herminie, who was arraigned in court on Tuesday along with seven others, has however, denied the charges, saying his prosecution is a “political show” staged by the government to taint his image and frustrate his campaign.

The politician, who is seen as the main challenger to President Wavel Ramkalawan in the country’s presidential election in 2025 under the banner of the United Seychelles Party (USP), is facing several charges, including possession of items intended for use in witchcraft, conspiracy to perform witchcraft and procuring services related to witchcraft, according to local media.

Prosecutors allege that the opposition leader’s name appeared in a WhatsApp message between a Seychellois national and Tanzanian suspect who was arrested on 21st September at the main international airport.

Local media reports that the Tanzanian suspect was found with items related to witchcraft, including stones, black wooden artefacts, small bottles of brownish liquid, a collection of powders, and documents with strange language and “demonic and satanic” symbols.

“The documents were similar to those found in Catholic churches and other places that had been vandalised in Mahé, Seychelles’ largest island,” prosecutors alleged.

Herminie, who was the Speaker of Seychelles’ parliament between 2007 and 2016, told local media that more than 40 police officers had raided his party’s offices in the capital, Victoria in what he claimed were acts of intimidation.

He added that the officers searched for items related to witchcraft, including “bones, body parts, and objects associated with Christianity” but did not find any.

Herminie described his arrest as “a political show” by President Ramkalawan to “eliminate those who he knows will remove him from power in the 2025 elections.”

“In Seychelles’ history, there has never been until now, a political party leader arrested for superstition and witchcraft. This is something new and it is shameful for Seychelles,” he was quoted as saying by the Seychelles News Agency.