{"id":6575,"date":"2025-04-09T02:02:51","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T02:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/?p=6575"},"modified":"2025-04-09T02:02:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T02:02:51","slug":"ex-member-of-former-gambia-dictators-military-unit-is-on-trial-in-the-us-for-torture-ap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/2025\/04\/09\/ex-member-of-former-gambia-dictators-military-unit-is-on-trial-in-the-us-for-torture-ap\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-member of former Gambia dictator’s military unit is on trial in the US for torture | AP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Link to Article: https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/gambia-jammeh-dictator-torture-correa-junglers-770127d1669afb49b2a9d204409fd9cb<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A man accused of torturing those suspected in a planned coup against Gambia’s leader is now on trial. This man was a low ranking private in the West African country’s military who he himself risked torture and death if he disobeyed orders. Michael Sang Correa was indicted in 2020 under a specific law that allows people to be tried in the US judicial system for torture allegedly committed abroad. Correa is charged with torturing five individuals suspected of involvement in the 2006 coup against Yahya Jammeh, as well as conspiring to torture alleged coup plotters while serving in a military unit. However, Correa’s lawyer, Jared Westbroek, told jurors that the threat of his own torture and death hanging over his life showed he had no choice but to torture those within his captivity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Correa’s situation is very difficult and almost never seen before. When he was in the military for Jammeh, he was threatened with torture or death if he didn’t follow the order of his superiors. However, his actions in torturing those even with his own torture hanging over him, does not dismiss the fact that he did in fact torture those people. Westbroek, the lawyer, noted that it is hard for Americans who live in a “very blessed country” with freedom to understand Correa’s situation. Federal prosecutors agree with Westbroeks statements, but a trial attorney for the US Department of Justice’s human rights unit told jurors that some of those within Correa’s unit refused to participate in the torture. The attorney stated that “the defendant is on trial today because of the choices he made”. Showing that Correa’s decisions were ultimately up to him, and that he should be guilty of all charges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through these trials, international law has been on display. A person who is convicted of a crime even in another country may still be put on trial within the US. Correa’s situation shows that their is still international norms and values that are upheld by certain countries, including the prosecution of war criminals from countries abroad that may be citizens of the US. The International Court of Justice seeks to prosecute criminals, specifically war criminals, and send them to the Hague. However, countries may deny the ICJ its abilities and may simply refuse to hand over a war criminal. Ultimately it is a tough decision for a country to make regarding a crime committed internationally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Link to Article: https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/gambia-jammeh-dictator-torture-correa-junglers-770127d1669afb49b2a9d204409fd9cb A man accused of torturing those suspected in a planned coup against Gambia’s leader is now on trial. This man was a low ranking private in the West African country’s military who he himself risked torture and death if he disobeyed orders. Michael Sang Correa was indicted in 2020 under a specific law that allows people… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":277,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/277"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6576,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6575\/revisions\/6576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}