schema:articleBody
| - Senegal's leading opposition party, whose leader Ousmane Sonko has been accused of rape, said Monday that police had arrested 77 of its supporters, calling them "political hostages". Sonko finished third in 2019 elections that saw President Macky Sall win a second term in office, and is considered a future presidential contender in the West African state. But controversy has dogged the 46-year-old opposition lawmaker since early last month, when Senegalese media reported that a beauty salon employee had filed rape charges against him. Sonko, head of the opposition Pastef party, denies the charges and accuses the president of conspiring against him. Last week, Senegal's parliament stripped him of his legal immunity, opening the way towards a police investigation of the complaint. Sonko has said that he will refuse to speak to investigators, citing procedural irregularities in the lifting of his immunity. Scores of opposition supporters who took to the streets to protest Sonko's innocence several times in February -- and clashed with police -- have been arrested, however. Ousseynou Ly, a Pastef spokesman, told AFP that 77 "political hostages" are in detention. Senegal's police did not respond to a request for comment. On Monday, a coalition of 20 teachers' unions also called for a 24-hour strike in protest at the alleged arrest of two teachers who support Sonko. The rape allegation against the opposition leader comes amid uncertainty over whether Sall, 59, will seek a third term. Presidents in the former French colony of about 16 million people are limited to two consecutive terms, but Sall launched a constitutional review in 2016, raising suspicions he intends to run again. Other presidents in West Africa -- such as Guinea's Alpha Conde or Ivory Coast's Alassane Ouattara -- have used constitutional changes to win third terms. mrb/siu/hba/eml/tgb
|