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| - A Gambian man has been remanded in custody in Germany on suspicion he was part of an army hit squad under the orders of ex-Gambian president Yahya Jammeh, prosecutors said Wednesday, with an AFP correspondent among the victims. The suspect, named as Bai L., has been remanded in custody for crimes against humanity, murder and attempted murder while working as a driver for the army unit between 2003 and 2006, prosecutors in the city of Karlsruhe said. He is accused of involvement in two murders and one attempted murder, including the 2004 killing of Deyda Hydara, editor and co-founder of the independent daily The Point and a correspondent for AFP for 30 years. Hydara was shot three times in the head by unidentified gunmen in his car on the outskirts of the Gambian capital Banjul in December 2004. Bai L. is accused of having helped the unit to stop the journalist's car on a road in the town of Kanifing, where two members shot him several times. The suspect is also believed to have driven one of the killers in his own vehicle. Phil Chetwynd, global news director of AFP, welcomed the progress in the investigation into Hydara's death. "We continue to call for justice to be served against the killers of our colleague, who paid with his life in his fight for press freedom," he said. Bai L., identified by German media as Bai Lowe, was arrested in the northern German city of Hanover in the early hours of Tuesday. Prosecutors said he was also a driver for the army unit, known as the Junglers, during the attempted murder of a lawyer in 2003, and the killing of another suspected opponent of the president in 2006. "This unit was used by the then president of The Gambia to carry out illegal killing orders, among other things" with the aim of "intimidating the Gambian population and suppressing the opposition", they said. Hydara's murder was widely condemned locally and abroad as a sign of Jammeh's despotic rule and his stifling of all opposition in the former British colony. Hydara's son Baba on Wednesday said he was was relieved to hear of the arrest. "I hope that all those who committed crimes against humanity in The Gambia will one day be brought before a court of law for their actions," he told AFP. In July 2019, three former members of the Junglers, Malick Jatta, Omar Jallow and Amadou Badjie admitted to Hydara's killing. All three former hitmen were freed from army custody two weeks after their appearance before the West African country's Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC). Jammeh ruled Gambia with an iron fist for 22 years but fled the country in January 2017 after losing a presidential election to relative unknown Adama Barrow. He refused to acknowledge the results but was forced out by a popular uprising. In 2017, NGOs and families of victims killed during Jammeh's rule, including Hydara's son, launched an international campaign aimed at bringing the former despot to justice. Bai L. confessed his involvement with the hit squad and the killing of Hydara during an interview with Gambian broadcaster Freedom Radio in 2013, after he had fled to Germany, according to the TAZ daily. His case is being brought in Germany on the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows a foreign country to prosecute crimes against humanity, including war crimes and genocide, regardless of where they were committed. Germany has been particularly active in pursuing such cases linked to the Syrian regime, and in February convicted a former Syrian intelligence agent for complicity in crimes against humanity. bur-fec/hmn/bp
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