After being detained this week, Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko said on Sunday that he had begun a hunger strike from prison.
Senegal’s public prosecutor announced seven additional allegations against the Ousmane Sonko on Saturday – a vociferous critic of President Macky Sall who has experienced a run of legal snafus he alleges is intended to keep him out of politics.
“In the face of so much hate, lies, oppression, persecution, I have decided to resist,” Sonko wrote on social media, inviting “all political detainees” to join him on the strike.
Ousmane Sonko
Sonko’s lawyers stated at a press conference in Dakar on Sunday that officials had violated his rights.
In a high-profile moral corruption case, Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison on June 1.
The sentence, which might prohibit him from running in next year’s presidential election, prompted confrontations that left at least 16 people dead.
But the prosecutor stated that his Friday arrest and the fresh accusations revealed on Saturday have nothing to do with the moral corruption case.
His remarks, demonstrations, and other incidents since 2021—including a Friday incident at his home that resulted in his arrest—are the subject of the new accusations, according to the prosecutor.
They include calling for insurrection, undermining state security, criminal association with a terrorist body and theft, the prosecutor added.
