Sanna Manjang, former head of the Junglers, a paramilitary unit working for The Gambia’s former president Yahya Jammeh, was arrested on 29 November 2025 in Senegal during a joint operation by the security forces of both countries. He was then extradited to Banjul, the capital. It was only after Yahya Jammeh's fall from power in 2017 that an arrest warrant was issued for Sanna Manjang for the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara, co-founder of the newspaper The Point and correspondent for RSF and Agence France-Presse (AFP). His trial begins on Thursday, 15 January. 

On 16 December 2004, Deyda Hydara was shot several times while driving home from work in Kanifing, a district near Banjul. The journalist was best known for his column titled “Good morning Mr. President,” which offered a hard-hitting analysis of the country's government. The investigation opened by the state at the time of the murder was closed in less than a month without any arrests. In July 2019, Lieutenant Malick Jatta, a member of the Junglers, told the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) set up after Yahya Jammeh's fall: “We fired, me, Alieu Jeng and Sanna Manjang.”

"The opening of the trial of a senior member of dictator Yahya Jammeh's notorious paramilitary unit marks a turning point in the quest for truth and the fight against impunity that began more than 20 long years ago. We call on the Gambian judicial authorities to make this trial a moment of truth and justice for Deyda Hydara, his family and the profession. All those responsible for this heinous crime must be clearly identified and given sentences that serve as a warning to others, so that no journalist is ever subjected to reprisals for simply doing their job, again."

“Sanna Manjang was one of the adversely mentioned names that you hear in every testimony [collected by the commission],” recalled Baba Hydara, a journalist and Deyda’s son, when contacted by RSF. He welcomed the opening of the trial and expressed a desire for “all the Junglers to be prosecuted as soon as possible, because most of the victims that were affected by these names, like Sanna Manjang, are somehow losing interest [editor’s note: in the sense they are losing faith that justice will be done] and sometimes even end up dying.” This wish is shared by Pap Saine, a long-time friend of Deyda Hydara who co-founded of The Point with the deceased journalist. He hopes the trial will “reveal more facts regarding this incident and other human right violations that took place in the country,” particularly under Yahya Jammeh’s rule. RSF continues to demand the extradition of the former dictator, who is currently living in Equatorial Guinea.

In 2023, Bai Lowe, another member of the Junglers, was sentenced by a German court to life imprisonment after admitting to his involvement in the murder of Deyda Hydara, among other crimes. On 15 May 2024, Ousman Sonko, The Gambia’s former minister of the interior, was also sentenced in Switzerland to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity, including acts of torture against journalists Madi Ceesay and Musa Saidykhan.

Gambia is ranked 58th out of 180 countries and territories in the RSF 2025 World Press Freedom Index.