The list of alleged crimes includes the 2004 killing of AFP correspondent Deyda Hydara, who was gunned down in his car on the outskirts of the Gambian capital Banjul on December 16, 2004.
Lowe was found to have helped to stop Hydara’s car and drove one of the killers in his own vehicle.
The trial, which began last year, is “the first to tackle human rights violations committed in The Gambia during the Jammeh era on the basis of universal jurisdiction”, according to Human Rights Watch.
The legal principle allows a foreign country to prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, regardless of where they were committed.
– Journalist killing –
Hydara was an editor and co-founder of the independent daily The Point and a correspondent for AFP for over 30 years.
The father-of-four also worked as a Gambia correspondent for the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and was considered a doyen among journalists in the tiny West African state.
In The Point, he wrote a widely read column, “Good morning, Mr President”, in which he expressed his views on Gambian politics.
According to investigations by RSF, Hydara was being spied on by Gambian intelligence services just before his death.
