By: Hadram Hydara, Denver, Colorado
The fourth day of the landmark US trial of Michael Sang Correa, an alleged member of Gambia’s notorious “Junglers” death squad, featured harrowing testimony from coup plot suspect Faring Sanyang, who described systematic torture and a chilling assassination order from former President Yahya Jammeh.
Torture Details Emerge
Testifying in the US District Court of Colorado on Thursday, Sanyang recounted being beaten with palm tree branches and water pipes until the branch “eroded” from repeated strikes. He alleged that Correa directed colleagues to continue the assault, gesturing that they would kill him.
“Musa Jammeh told me, ‘You Mandinkas, you want to take our government from us,’” Sanyang said, describing the torture during his 2006 detention over an alleged coup plot. “I screamed out of pain.”
Assassination Order Refusal
Sanyang testified that Yahya Jammeh twice ordered him to assassinate Deyda Hydara, a journalist critical of the regime. “I rejected,” Sanyang stated, explaining that he urged Jammeh to pursue legal avenues instead. “If Deyda broke the law, he should be arrested by the police, charged, and taken to court.”
His refusal, he said, landed him on Jammeh’s “assassination list.”
Forced Confession Under Duress
Sanyang described being coerced into a false confession after the torture intensified. “To save my body, I agreed,” he said. While writing the statement, he smeared his own blood on the paper “to send a message that I was being tortured.”
Photos of his injuries—including marks on his arm, palm, and shoulder—were exhibited in court. Authorities later used only his voice in a televised “confession” to hide his visible wounds.
Violent Interrogation
Sanyang detailed further brutality at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) headquarters, where he said Malick Jatta struck him with a hammer, breaking his tooth, while hurling ethnic slurs: “You Mandinkas, we will kill you, fuck your mothers, and take your wives.”
Defense Argument Challenged
Prosecutors highlighted Sanyang’s 2017 escape to Senegal, noting his family faced no reprisals—a point undermining defense claims that Correa complied with orders out of fear for his relatives. “No,” Sanyang replied when asked if his family was harmed.
Correa, charged with torture and conspiracy, denies the allegations. His lawyers argue that he acted under duress.
Context
Sanyang was first arrested on 26 March 2006, released, and then rearrested on 6 April 2006. He fled Gambia in 2017 after Jammeh’s ouster, crossing a border 30 minutes from his village, Banni.
The trial, held at Denver’s Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse, continues with cross-examination. It marks a rare US prosecution under laws allowing charges for extraterritorial torture.
