Adviser to Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko arrested for defamation and contempt

16 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Senegalese opponent Bassirou Diomaye Faye, right-hand man of the opposition leader in the African country, Ousmane Sonko, has been arrested for defamation and contempt after criticizing some of the country’s judges on social networks.

Faye, general secretary of the Patriots of Senegal party (PASTEF), the formation led by Sonko, was arrested on Friday afternoon, has remained in police custody this weekend and will be questioned this coming Monday by the Prosecutor’s Office, reports Radio France Internationale (RFI).

The detainee had criticized the haste of certain judges who had decided to prosecute Sonko next Monday in the case against him for defaming the Minister of Tourism, Mame Mbaye Niang, even before the possibility of appeal expired.

Faye’s lawyer, Musa Sarr, told RFI that his client “simply limited himself to expressing his opinion on the workings of justice in this country, as a political leader.”

Sonko was arrested in 2021 after around twenty opposition parliamentarians filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court against the withdrawal of their parliamentary immunity.

The arrest of the opponent, who came in third place in the 2019 presidential elections, unleashed a wave of protests that resulted in several deaths. Finally, he was released, although the proceedings against him are still ongoing.