Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko says he’s restarting the hunger strike he ended in September, reports RFI. This comes after Sonko, in custody since the end of July on various charges including calling for insurrection, won his appeal to be reinstated on the electoral register.
But days after the ruling, Mouhamed Ayib Daffé, permanent secretary of the PASTEF party, said the electoral directorate refused to grant him entry to their offices, which means Sonko does not yet have the sponsorship collection sheets needed by an election candidate.
Meanwhile, 180 prisoners in Casamance have also started a hunger strike to protest against their continued detention. They were arrested after demonstrations supporting freeing Sonko from prison. Some of the detainees, in jail for four months, are minors aged 15 to 17, according to a civil society organisation who visited them.
Madja Diop Sané, co-ordinator of the Citizen Vision organization, said: “These detainees are waiting for nothing other than to be heard on the merits of their case. Now, for those who can benefit from provisional release, to benefit from it, for those who must await judgment, they will await judgment. But they should already be heard on the merits of their case, because keeping people in prison, not hearing them, is a problem.”
The 180 prisoners promise to end their hunger strike only when they are presented to a judge. They also complain about the poor quality of the food and the high price of the phone. The management of Ziguinchor prison could not be contacted on this subject.
In Dakar, six women arrested following the riots in June and detained at Liberty 6 prison, have also started a hunger strike for a week, according to Sonko’s PASTEF party, to demand the immediate release of the detainees.