Jammeh has been implicated in serious human rights violations, such as murder, rape and torture, as highlighted in the final report of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission.

He is the son of Aja Fatou Ashombi Bojang, a housewife and trader, and Abdul Aziz James Junkung Jammeh, a career wrestler.

[3][4][5]In those days, he used to defend the rights of many Gendarmes who for one reason or another had felt apart with the Gendarmerie command and administration and were brought to the [Military Police] for either investigation or punishment.

In particular, Minteh recalled Jammeh's "ruthless and disrespectful encounter" with sergeant major Kebba Dibba, and when he "brandished a pistol and threatened to shoot" a captain named Ebrima Camara simply on the basis of his ethnicity.

[3] The 1994 coup d'etat in the Gambia, overthrowing the government of Sir Dawda Jawara, represented a reversal in the general trend in sub-Saharan Africa after 1989 away from authoritarianism and towards multiparty politics.

The same day as the NCC's report, two of the original coup leaders, Sabally and Hydara, launched an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Jammeh as chairman.

The new constitution, which provided for multiparty elections, an unlimited number of five-year presidential terms, and a lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18, was approved by a majority of 70%.

[9] Jammeh won the 1996 presidential election as the APRC candidate, winning 56% of the vote and beating Ousainou Darboe, Hamat Bah and Sidia Jatta.

Saine argues that this combination of intimidation and harassment of the opposition, an inherent bias provided by the 1996 constitution, as well as a distinct financial advantage, meant that "the presidential and national assembly elections were lost long before the first ballot was cast.

[26] In response to his suppression of the press and media in the Gambia, various online newspapers and radio stations were established by self-exiled Gambian journalists to publicise alleged government atrocities.

[33] Saine argues that Jammeh's employment of judges mainly from other Commonwealth countries allowed him to effectively issue tough sentences to reduce dissent and to imprison both real and perceived threats to the president's power.

[34] On 15 May 2008, Jammeh announced that his government would introduce legislation that would set laws against homosexuals that would be "stricter than those in Iran", and that he would "cut off the head" of any gay or lesbian person discovered in the country.

"We are deeply concerned about credible reports of torture, suspicious disappearances – including of two American citizens – and arbitrary detention at the government's hands".

He also sent Momodou Lamin Sedat Jobe, his foreign minister, to meet with rebel leader Ansumane Mané to attempt to arrange peace talks in Banjul, though these efforts were fruitless.

[58] Testimony to the Gambia's Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) between 2019 and 2021 implicated Gambian military officials and the Junglers, a paramilitary unit commanded by Jammeh, in the 2005 killings of 50–60 West African migrants, mostly Ghanians, destined for Europe.

This corroborates 2018 findings by Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International on the same incident, but contradicts an unpublished UN/ECOWAS report that attributed the killings to rogue security personnel.

[59] According to defence and National Intelligence Agency officials who testified to TRRC, these migrants were detained in the town of Barra on 22 July 2005, and then tortured in various detention centers around Banjul.

[59] In March 2009 Amnesty International reported that up to 1,000 Gambians had been abducted by government-sponsored "witch doctors" on charges of witchcraft, and taken to government detention centres where they were forced to drink dirty water with poisonous herbs; this left several captives with sequelae.

[60][61] On 21 May 2009, The New York Times reported that the alleged witch-hunting campaign had been sparked by the President Yahya Jammeh, who believed that the death of his aunt earlier that year could be attributed to witchcraft.

[63] Newspaper reports list dozens of individuals who have disappeared after being picked up by men in plain-clothes, and others who have languished under indefinite detention for months or years without charge or trial.

[64] The regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court ordered the Gambian government to produce one journalist who had disappeared.

[71] Ahead of the 2016 presidential election a number of opposition members, including United Democratic Party leader Ousainou Darboe, were sentenced to three years in jail for staging pro-democracy protests.

[83][84][85] Senegal, which was selected by ECOWAS to lead the operation to remove Jammeh from his post, moved its troops closer to the border with the Gambia on 18 January.

[91] Senegal halted its offensive, to allow mediation of the crisis one final time, with the invasion to proceed at noon on 20 January if Jammeh were to refuse to relinquish power.

[116] Effective 21 December 2017, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order under the Magnitsky Act that specifically named Yahya Jammeh among the persons whose US-based assets are to be blocked.

[117][118] There also been some controversy in the Gambia over the revelation that Jammeh during his time in office allowed a Franco-Polish arms dealer Pierre Dadak to use jetliners belonging to the Gambian state to fly around Europe and Africa to conduct his business.

[119] In June 2018, the Gambian government decided to auction off his fleet of luxury cars and aircraft to raise money for health and education projects.

[120] He was photographed in May 2019 accompanied by Teodoro Obiang Nguema himself, Jammeh had grown his beard, the matches of the Equatoguinean opposition denounced the presence of this "annoying guest" claiming that "they do not want another dictator in the country".

[141] The official title used was His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Aziz Awal Jemus Junkung Jammeh Naasiru Deen Babili Mansa.

[144] The title Babili Mansa, which the President decided to drop in December 2014, is a phrase in the Mandinka language that could be translated as either "Chief Bridge Builder" or "Conqueror of Rivers".