US jury convicts Gambian 'death squad' member for torture

A US jury on Tuesday convicted a Gambian man for torturing opponents of the African country's former president by burning and beating them, including with molten plastic.

Michael Sang Correa, 46, served in an armed unit known as the "Junglers," which answered to The Gambia’s then-president, Yahya Jammeh.

A trial in Denver, Colorado, found that Correa and other members of the death squad had tortured five people because of suspicions they had plotted against Jammeh.

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"Michael Sang Correa tried to evade responsibility for his crimes in The Gambia by coming to the United States and hiding his past," Matthew Galeotti, head of the US Justice Department's Criminal Division said after the trial.

"But we found him, we investigated him, and we prosecuted him."

Jurors in Colorado heard how in March 2006, shortly after a failed coup attempt, the Junglers took their victims to The Gambia's main prison.

Over the next two months, they beat, stabbed, burned, and electroshocked their victims, including some on their genitals.

One man testified he had his thigh burned by molten plastic; another told of how he was suffocated, while others spoke of being pistol whipped, burned with cigarettes and hit in the face with a hammer.

Correa was convicted of five counts of torture and one of conspiracy to commit torture.

He faces up to 120 years in prison when he is sentenced at a later date.

Correa entered the United States in 2016 to work as a bodyguard for The Gambia's vice president, who was visiting the United Nations.

He stayed in the country and moved to Denver at some point after Jammeh, who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1994 to 2017, was voted out of office.

Correa was arrested by US authorities in September 2019, initially for overstaying his visa.

According to the indictment, Correa joined the Junglers in 2004.

The paramilitary unit operated outside the Gambian army's chain of command, taking orders directly from Jammeh, and has been accused by watchdog groups of carrying out widespread human rights violations.

Another member of the Junglers, Bai Lowe, was sentenced to life in prison in Germany in November 2023 after being convicted of crimes against humanity, murder and attempted murder.

A Swiss court in May sentenced Gambian ex-interior minister Ousman Sonko to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed under the Jammeh regime.

Victims of the Junglers included an AFP correspondent, Deyda Hydara, who was gunned down in his car on the outskirts of Gambia's capital Banjul on December 16, 2004.