Gambia's former spy chief and four other ex-intelligence officials have been sentenced to death for the 2016 murder of an opponent of ex-president Yahya Jammeh, a rare instance of criminal accountability for Jammeh-era crimes
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.
The court issued the sentences late on Wednesday against Yankuba Badjie, the former director-general of the National Intelligence Agency and four other senior NIA officials for the murder of Solo Sandeng. Two other defendants were acquitted. The defendants all denied wrongdoing.
