A Gambian on trial for the murder of an AFP journalist.
On Monday, the trial of a Gambian man accused of being a member of a death squad that assassinated former dictator Yahya Jammeh’s opponents, including an AFP journalist, began in Germany.
The suspect, identified in the media as Bai Lowe, is accused of crimes against humanity, murder, and attempted murder, including the death of AFP journalist Deyda Hydara in 2004.
Lowe, 46, entered in court in the northern town of Celle wearing a black hood and hiding his face with a green folder.
Activists held a poster outside the courtroom demanding that Jammeh “and his accomplices be brought to justice.”
According to Human Rights Watch, the trial is “the first to pursue human rights offences perpetrated in Gambia under the Jammeh regime on the basis of universal jurisdiction.”
Universal jurisdiction empowers a foreign government to prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide anywhere in the world.
Lowe was arrested in Hanover in March 2021 and charged with two murders and one attempted murder while operating as a driver for the Junglers death squad between December 2003 and December 2006.
According to federal prosecutors, “the then-president of Gambia employed this unit to carry out illegal killing orders, among other things,” with the goal of “intimidating the Gambian public and repressing the opposition.”
On December 16, 2004, Hydara, 58, was shot and killed in his car on the outskirts of Banjul, the Gambian capital.
Lowe is accused of assisting in the stop of Hydara’s vehicle and of driving one of the killers in his own automobile.
Hydara worked for AFP for over 30 years as an editor and co-founder of the independent newspaper The Point.
The father of four also served as a Gambia correspondent for the non-governmental organization Reporters without Borders (RSF) and was regarded as a journalist’s doyen in the small West African country.
He had a well-read column, “Good morning, Mr. President,” in his daily The Point, in which he shared his thoughts on Gambian politics.
Hydara was being spied on by Gambian intelligence, according to RSF investigations.
