Four Americans sentenced for failed Gambian coup

Four Gambian-Americans, who attempted and failed to overthrow Gambian President Yahya Jammeh in a 2014 coup, received lighter sentences than expected from a federal judge in St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday.

Cherno Njie, 58, from Lakeway, Texas, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Njie financed the group’s weaponry and travel expenses and hosted some meetings in his Texas home. He would have served as the country’s interim leader if the coup had succeeded. Federal prosecutors had asked for a 63-month sentence.

Alagie Barrow, 43, of Lavergne, Tenn., and Banke Manneh, of Jonesboro, Ga., each received six-month sentences. Prosecutors had sought a 41-month sentence for Barrow and 63 months for Manneh. Papa Faal, 47, from Brooklyn Center, Minn., cooperated with investigators and got off with “time served,” rather than the 51 months prosecutors requested.

“I wanted jail time. We had a team,” Faal told the Minneapolis StarTribune. “I feel bad for my friends.”

On Dec. 30, 2014, the four men attempted to take over the State House in Banjul, The Gambia’s capital, but they encountered more soldiers than expected. Three other members of the plot were killed in the ensuing gunfire and the co-defendants fled to Senegal before returning to the United States. The four men pleaded guilty to violating firearms laws and the Neutrality Act, which makes it illegal to take military action against a country that is at peace with the United States.

Jammeh came to power in a 1994 military coup. He is accused of numerous human rights abuses that include forced disappearances, torture, and undemocratic arrests. Manneh, a long-time activist among the Gambian diaspora, had previously expressed his disapproval of Jammeh’s regime.

“What I see in the U.S., … the opportunities I have seen here, and the human rights and the democracy and the rule of law is what I want in The Gambia, and even better,” Manneh said in a YouTube video published before the attempted coup.

While the United States has criticized Jammeh’s actions, federal officials said the attempted coup not only interfered with U.S. interests but also endangered the lives of U.S. citizens in the country.

“Regardless of the legitimacy of their personal and emotional connections to The Gambia, these men placed countless innocents in harm’s way when they engaged in a brazen and fatally flawed attempt at regime change,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said. “While I respect the right of any person to voice opposition to a government or its policies, this case is a good example of how not to do so.”