Senegal’s opposition leader Ousmane Sonko is charged with, among other things, sedition and has been detained.
The data comes after a troubled weekend in the country with protests both in the streets and on the internet. Earlier on Monday, the authorities blocked access to the internet, citing “hateful and subversive posts” on social media.
Sonko was arrested on Friday and the following day he was served with suspicion of seven different crimes. The politician then began a hunger strike, which triggered the latest protests.
Sonko was sentenced in early June in absentia to two years in prison for inciting a person under the legal age of 21 to commit inappropriate acts. That verdict also declared him unfit to run in next year’s presidential election.
The result resulted in widespread protests in which several people died.
At the beginning of July, the country’s president Macky Sall announced that he will not stand in next year’s elections.