Senegal: Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko announces hunger strike

In Senegal, Ousmane Sonko has started a hunger strike to denounce his recent arrest, which took place on Friday in Dakar. After being sentenced in June to two years in prison in a morals case, Ousmane Sonko is now accused of inciting insurrection, endangering state security, theft, among others. He is scheduled to appear before a judge on Monday.

Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was arrested on Friday, July 28, and charged with incitement to insurrection and other crimes, announced on social media that he began a hunger strike on Sunday, July 30.

Ousmane Sonko is expected to be questioned by a judge on Monday, confirmed one of his lawyers to AFP. The judge will decide whether or not to press charges against him.

During a press conference on Sunday in Dakar, Sonko’s lawyers declared that the authorities had not respected his client’s rights.

The opposition leader, who was sentenced to two years in prison on June 1 in a morals case, was arrested on Friday, July 28 in Dakar.

The list of charges against him includes incitement to insurrection, endangering state security, association with a terrorist organization, conspiracy against the authority of the state, acts aimed at compromising public security and creating serious political disturbances, and theft.

He was arrested on Friday for “violently stealing a female gendarme’s mobile phone” and immediately “calling the people, through a subversive message spread on social media, to stand ready,” according to the prosecutor.

On Friday evening, one of Ousmane Sonko’s lawyers described the accusations against his client as “childish” during a press conference.

With AFP