By Kaddy Jawo

Michael Sang Correa, a former member of The Gambia’s notorious Junglers death squad, has been found guilty on multiple counts of torture in a landmark verdict delivered in a U.S. federal court in Denver. His conviction marks a rare and historic moment: only the third time in U.S. history that a person has been convicted under the extraterritorial Torture Act, and the first non-American ever to be sentenced under it.

The jury found Correa guilty of conspiracy to commit torture and torture of five men: Tamsir Jasseh, Pharing Sanyang, Yaya Darboe, Pierre Mendy, and Demba Dem. These were not just names on paper. They were once soldiers, lawmakers, and police chiefs — who, in 2006, found themselves detained, electrocuted, suffocated with plastic bags, beaten, and brutalised in the wake of a foiled coup against Yahya Jammeh.

Correa was part of the Junglers, a paramilitary unit loyal to Jammeh that operated as his personal shadowy enforcers. They answered not to the law but to orders from Jammeh himself, and for years, they operated with complete impunity. That ended in a courtroom thousands of miles away from the crimes.

A Warning to Human Rights Abusers

“This country will not be a haven for human rights violators,” declared Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, during a press conference held after the verdict. “We can and will prosecute you if you come to the United States after committing atrocities abroad.”

This verdict, Galeotti said, sends a message: justice travels. And no border can protect those who torture, maim, or kill under the cover of state power.

Voices of the Survivors

For the survivors, the verdict was more than a legal win, it was a recognition of pain long buried. “Torture doesn’t just break your body. It follows you for life,” said Tamsir Jasseh, now a senior advisor to the Gambian police. He testified, along with other survivors, recounting the moments when Correa and others turned them into prey.

“This verdict,” said Demba Dem, a former member of the Gambian Parliament, “is not just about us. It’s for everyone who suffered and was silenced.”

Yaya Darboe, a current officer in the Gambia Armed Forces, added: “For us to heal as a country, justice must be seen to be done.”

A Long Road to Accountability

The case was brought under the U.S. Torture Act, a rarely used statute that allows the prosecution of foreign nationals found on U.S. soil for acts of torture committed abroad. Correa, who fled to the U.S. and tried to build a life in hiding, was arrested in 2020. But survivors and civil society groups, including TRIAL International and the Centre for Justice and Accountability, for years pushed  to bring him to justice.

“This case is a turning point,” said Ela Matthews, Senior Staff Attorney at CJA. “It proves that international law has teeth — and survivors have voices.”

The verdict shines a bright spotlight on The Gambia’s transitional justice process, and puts pressure on the government to act on the recommendations of its Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), which concluded in 2021 that Jammeh and his collaborators — including Correa — committed crimes against humanity.

“Correa’s conviction is a victory,” said Kadijatou Kuyateh, spokesperson for the Alliance of Victim-Led Organisations. “But many of his fellow Junglers are still walking freely in Banjul. Some hold positions of power. It’s time for the Gambian government to act — to finally establish the promised hybrid war crimes court and ensure no one else escapes justice.”

The Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice, a local human rights body in the Gambia said this conviction sends a clear message that individuals who commit human rights abuses cannot evade justice by seeking refuge in other countries. The Centre’s head Madi Jobarteh noted that Correa’s conviction underscores the importance of international cooperation in addressing human rights violations and serves as a milestone in the global fight against impunity. He further expressed disquiet that while foreign governments are holding perpetrators accountable, at home the Gambia government is still not near prosecutions while several other truth commission recommendations remain hanging. 

The 46-year-old Correa was charged in 2020 with torture and conspiracy to commit the torture of at least six people in The Gambia under a seldom-used law that allows people to be tried by the US judicial system for torture allegedly committed abroad. 

He is the first non-US citizen to be convicted on torture charges in a federal district court for crimes committed overseas, according to the Department of Justice. The law has only been used twice since it was enacted in 1994, but both of the previous cases were brought against US citizens.

Correa now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for each count of torture and for conspiracy — a decision that will be handed down in the coming months by Judge Christine M. Arguello.

His lawyers argued that he was merely a foot soldier, obeying orders in a regime of fear. But the jury didn’t buy it.