Supporters of Bassirou Diomaye Faye, imprisoned opposition candidate in the postponed presidential election in Senegal, demanded his
"release without delay"
in the name
of "equal treatment"
, indicates a press release sent to AFP on Sunday.
“All candidates must be subject to the constitutional principle of equal treatment. This is why the immediate release of candidate Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye is a popular demand that respects the Constitution
,” indicates the press release from Diomaye President, the coalition which supports him.
She also underlines
“the need to urgently release President Ousmane Sonko, leader of the opposition”
.
Ousmane Sonko is the leader of the dissolved opposition party Pastef, whose candidacy was rejected by the Constitutional Council which instead retained that of Mr. Faye, its number two.
Mr. Sonko has been imprisoned since July 2023 for calling for insurrection, criminal conspiracy linked to a terrorist enterprise and endangering state security.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye has been in preventive detention since April 2023. The fact that he has not yet been tried and sentenced is apparently the reason why his candidacy was accepted by the Constitutional Council.
At the end of January, the European Union considered it
“very important that the candidates who were selected by the Constitutional Council be able to campaign in complete equality”
with their adversaries.
Several dozen opponents have been released in recent days, a gesture of appeasement from the regime of President Macky Sall who does not recognize the existence of political prisoners in Senegal.
“While welcoming the release of political prisoners”
, the President Diomaye coalition
“requests that all political prisoners still unjustly incarcerated be immediately released”
.
Senegal entered into crisis at the beginning of February, following the postponement of the presidential election, initially scheduled for February 25, to December 15.
This postponement was invalidated Thursday by the Constitutional Council which demanded that the vote be held "as soon as possible
"
, a decision that President Sall, whose five-year mandate expires on April 2, is committed to respecting.