The country’s number 1 opponent, the founder of the dissolved Pastef party, Ousmane Sonko, and his loyal lieutenant and presidential candidate on March 24, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, left Cap Manuel prison this Thursday evening.
2 mins
Ten days before the presidential election, both men are free. They left Cap Manuel prison in a vehicle with tinted windows shortly before midnight. Around the vehicle, a crowd of jubilant sympathizers was present. A young man brandishing the Senegalese flag even climbed onto the rear bumper of the car to celebrate this liberation.
As soon as it left the prison, the convoy of dozens of vehicles took the road towards Cité Keur Gorgui, the district of Dakar where Ousmane Sonko lives, thus creating a giant traffic jam and a spontaneous demonstration. On the journey, hundreds of people, luminous bracelets in the colors of Pastef on their wrists and flag of the Senegal by hand, took to the streets and cheered, with horns or shouts of joy, the opponents.
“ It is a victory for justice and Senegal »
“ It is a victory for justice and Senegal », Confided a young woman who came hastily from home to witness this liberation. “ He is the youth leader », rejoiced a Senegalese. These young people came in droves to witness this release, which had been awaited for several days already.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye was arrested in April for contempt of court after a Facebook post. Ousmane Sonko was arrested at the end of July after accusations of calls for insurrection, among others. They were released this Thursday evening following the adoption by Senegalese deputies of the amnesty law on crimes committed during the protests that took place between February 2021 and 2024.
Read alsoIn the news: in Senegal, a forced electoral campaign