Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – On August 23, 2012, former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh ordered the execution of nine death row inmates. The victims were Lamin Darbo, Lamin Jarju, L.F. Jammeh, Alieu Bah, Gibril Bah, Malang Sonko, Abubacar Yarbo, Dawda Bojang, and Tabara Samba—the only female and a Senegalese national.

The world first learned of these executions through the brave actions of Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh. While detained at the Maximum Security Wing of Mile Two Prisons on questionable seditious charges, Dr. Janneh managed to smuggle a hidden iPhone 5 into his cell. Using this phone, he contacted Gambian journalist Ndey Tapha Sosseh, who then alerted Amnesty International and other organizations concerned about the dire human rights situation in The Gambia.

Dr. Janneh provided a chilling account of the events that transpired that night

“We remained worried, not knowing who among the 48 death-row convicts would be executed, how, and when. Suddenly, at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 23, 2012, a large number of security personnel entered the Security Wing. They were accompanied by the Deputy Director-General of Prisons ‘Sefla’ Jarjue and Mile II Chief Superintendent Alhagi Jobe, along with armed men carrying handcuffs and leg irons.

They moved from building to building, removing a total of eight male convicts from their cells, restraining them, and taking them away without any prior warning. Lamin Darboe, Alieu Bah, Lamin Jarju, and Lamin F. Jammeh were taken from Building No. 1; Gibril Bah from Building No. 4; and Dawda Bojang, Malang Sonko, and Abubacar/Buba Yarbo from Building No. 5. We later learned that Tabara Samba was taken from the Female Wing.

Darboe resisted, but he was overpowered, chained, and led away. As they dragged him out around 9:20 p.m., he yelled my name. ‘Amadou! I katang faa leh! Amadou! I katang faa leh!’ [Amadou! They are going to execute us!] He was silenced, and the only sounds I heard after that were the clinking of leg irons and the heavy metal gates opening and shutting.

I peeped through an opening in my cell door and saw Dawda Bojang being taken away as well. Activity came to a near standstill by 9:30 p.m. Pacing up and down my tiny cell, worried that they might discover why Lamin Darboe had called out to me, I quickly transmitted information to my colleagues (via Ndey Tapha Sosseh), narrating what had just transpired.”

Unveiling the Truth: How the Inmates Were Really Killed

The Jammeh regime initially claimed that the executions were carried out by firing squad on Sunday, August 26, 2012, following the exhaustion of all appeals. However, revelations from the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) later exposed this as a lie. In reality, the inmates were killed in a far more gruesome manner—suffocated and strangled to death by Jammeh’s infamous death squad, known as the “Junglers.”

Sgt. Amadou Badjie, a member of the Junglers, revealed that he and other members were picked up from Fajara Barracks at 7 p.m. and met with their team at Sting Corner before heading to Banjul. At Mile 2 Prison, the late prison director David Colley, Lt. Col. Solo Bojang, former Interior Minister Ousman Sonko, Gen. Saul Badjie, and others were present. They called out the names of the inmates, who were then cuffed and loaded into two vehicles.

The convoy traveled to Coastal Road, where Warrant Officer Lamin Sambou and others suffocated the prisoners by covering their heads with black plastic bags. According to Sgt. Amadou Badjie, “They were killed by other officers strangling them to death while others held their hands and legs during the process.” Gen. Saul Badjie and Minister Sonko counted and verified the bodies before they were then taken to Foni, where they were disposed of in an old well.

Sambou explained that once the death squad arrived in Foni, Solo Bojang met with an old man, apparently waiting for his arrival. Both Solo and the old man went into the bush and returned before leading the convoy to a village, still in Foni. “They instructed us to dispose of the dead in a well. Two men took each a corpse. The bodies were given to Solo Bojang, who hurled them into the well after reciting something,” warrant officer Lamin Sambou explained. The Jungler said he found blood stains and human excrement in Rambo Capt. Jarju’s car after the incident. “Everyone was asked to return to their cars and to Kanilai thirty minutes after being assured by solo Bojang not to worry about anything because it is a state matter,” warrant officer Lamin Sambou told the TRRC.

Despite the regime’s admission of the killings and the detailed accounts that have emerged over the years, the bodies of the nine inmates were never returned to their families, leaving their loved ones without closure to this day.