In Senegal, Ousmane Sonko was admitted to intensive care

2023-08-17 19:20:29
Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko, in Dakar, in March 2021. COOPER INVEEN / REUTERS

The opponent Ousmane Sonko was admitted to the intensive care unit of the main hospital in Dakar on the night of August 16 to 17 following a malaise, announced the national political office of his party, the Pastef (African Patriots of Senegal for work, ethics and fraternity). Information confirmed by the prison authority.

Imprisoned since July 28 in a case where he is notably being prosecuted for “call for insurrection”, the political leader has been on a hunger strike for eighteen days. Refusing to drink, eat and treat himself, according to his lawyers, in order to challenge his arrest and “the dictatorial regime of Macky Sall”, he had been admitted to hospital on 6 August.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Pastef-Les Patriotes party – which was officially dissolved on July 31 by the authorities – warns: “President Macky Sall, his Minister of Justice, his Minister of the Interior and all those involved in this inhuman persecution, which ended up putting the life of the leader of the opposition in danger, will be held fully responsible for all that which will happen. »

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“We still cannot visit him because he is still in detention”, regrets Ousseynou Ly, member of the Pastef communication unit. On August 8, the opposition coalition Yewwi Askan Wi, to which Ousmane Sonko’s political party belongs, sent a letter to the political leader asking him to end his hunger strike. He had refused, while calling on the other detainees who were starving themselves to stop the movement. Two imprisoned activists, Mohamed Samba Djim, known as “Hannibal”, and Cheikh Bara Ndiaye, on hunger strike in solidarity with Ousmane Sonko, are currently hospitalized.

“Non-acquiescence in judgment”

Faced with the deterioration of the situation, Aminata Touré, former Prime Minister of Macky Sall who has since turned her back on her, also wrote to the opponent to enjoin him “personally to definitively put an end to [sa] diet that seriously [sa] health at risk and [sa] life in danger”. “The most difficult thing in the fight against injustice is not to die but to continue to live in order to continue to fight”she had warned him.

“Power must take responsibility so that the irreparable does not happen, warns Habib Sy, president of the conference of leaders of Yewwi Askan Wi. We ask the government of Senegal to release Ousmane Sonko and ensure that we move towards inclusive, free and democratic elections so that Senegal remains this country of democracy which is recognized throughout the world when today is rocking. » He takes as an example the press briefings of the Yewwi Askan Wi coalition which could not be held in the offices of the various parties that make it up, whose buildings were “barricaded” by law enforcement.

After dissolving the Pastef, the Senegalese authorities confirmed that they had removed Ousmane Sonko from the electoral lists after his sentence to two years in prison for “youth corruption” in the case where he was accused of repeated rapes by Adji Sarr, a former employee of a massage parlour. Since he was tried in absentia, that is to say in his absence, the conviction is final, according to the authorities.

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A version disputed by the camp of Ousmane Sonko, who considers that the contumacy has fallen since he was arrested. While he sent a letter to the chief clerk of the Dakar court on August 3, in which he expressed his “non-compliance with judgment”he should according to them be retried in this case and therefore cannot lose his civic rights because the conviction is not final. “In any case, neither Ousmane Sonko nor the party received notification of this radiation”, assures El Malick Ndiaye, head of communication at Pastef. The stakes are high for the party: an effective withdrawal from the electoral register would prevent Ousmane Sonko from running in the presidential election of February 2024 because without being an elector, he cannot be a candidate and even less be elected.

Théa Ollivier (Dakar, correspondence)