Updated 01.11 | Published 01.03
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full screen Demonstrations in February after President Macky Sall decided to postpone the election, which was initially supposed to be held on February 25. Archive image. Photo: Sylvain Cherkaoui/AP/TT
Senegal’s jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was released late Thursday ahead of the country’s presidential election in late March, his lawyer said.
Sonko, a challenger to President Macky Sall’s ruling party, has been imprisoned since July and was previously barred from running in the election. Sonko’s opposition colleague, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has also been released, his lawyer told AP.
Sall himself is not running for a third term as president. Widespread protests erupted in February, after Sall tried to delay the election until June, two months after his term ends.
The election is now scheduled to be held on March 24, following a decision by Senegal’s Constitutional Council.