A Gambian court has sentenced former intelligence chief Yankuba Badji and four other members of the intelligence service to death for the killing of a political activist Ebrima Solo Sandeng during the rule of former strongman Yahya Jammeh.
The country has observed a moratorium on the death penalty since 2018, so the sentences handed down by Gambia’s high court will be converted to life imprisonment. Badji was found guilty of the killing of Sandeng, an important figure in the opposition United Democratic Party.
The deceased was arrested by state security after leading a peaceful opposition march for political reform in April 2016. Sandeng died two days later in detention and was buried in an unmarked grave, witnesses said, resulting in anger among Gambians who voted Jammeh out eight months later.
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