The Gambia government should be encouraged to move quickly to prosecute former president Yahya Jammeh, according to human rights attorney and investigator Reed Brody, who said that Bai Lowe’s life sentence in Germany could provide as motivation.

Jungler Bai Lowe was recently condemned to life in jail by a German court for his involvement in a hit squad that killed opponents of former ruler Jammeh, including well-known journalist Deyda Hydara.
Because of his employment as a driver for the assassination squad known as the Junglers, Lowe was found guilty of crimes against humanity, murder, and attempted murder.

Reed Brody, who has dedicated his professional life to holding autocrats and oppressive governments responsible for their abuses of human rights, responded to the sentence in an exclusive interview with The Standard. “Most importantly, the verdict should encourage the Gambia government to move forward, as it has said it will do, to establishing a special prosecutor’s office and a special internationalised court to bring Yahya Jammeh himself and his worst killers to justice,” Brody said. In order to get justice for what happened to them in the Gambia, victims shouldn’t have to go elsewhere. It is a requirement of Gambian democracy that these offenses be tried in Gambian courts.
He went on to say that Bai Lowe’s sentence is simply a little step toward justice for the atrocities committed by Yahya Jammeh’s dictatorship.

Advertisement: “At the bottom of the chart, and only a little man, was Bai Lowe.” These murders weren’t planned by him. We are aware that Yahya Jammeh was the one responsible for these murders. There will soon be further prosecutions of Jammeh’s goons in the US and Switzerland, said Reed.

Political and human rights activist Pa Samba Jow also offered commentary on the decision, stating that it is a critical step forward in the Jammeh2justice process. “Unfortunately, President Barrow and his NPP have no trouble rubbing elbows with the main facilitators of two decades of bloodshed against the Gambian people, while the world is determined to hold Jammeh and his murdering squad responsible for their reprehensible deeds. I’m hoping that at last the government will realize its responsibility and punish these thugs responsible. He said, “I firmly believe that those who supported the regime are just as ruthless as those who upheld it.
“To dictator Yahya AJJ Jammeh, this world has become a very small place for wicked people like him,” the US-based activist said. It will be his day. We will not give up on bringing justice for President Barrow’s many victims, even if he and his NPP do so out of political expediency. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best when he said, “The moral universe’s arc is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Justice for the victims and the nation would not exist until Jammeh is prosecuted and found guilty for his horrible crimes against Gambians, including rapes, murders, torture, and other atrocities. Jow continued.

Jammeh to justice will thus occur, regardless of the location—Banjul, Accra, The Hague, or any other place. The question now is when, not if, he said.