Senegal’s former Prime Minister Aminata Touré has taken to X (Twitter ) to sound the alarm bell on the prolonged detention of political prisoners. She called on the authorities to unconditionally release them.
“All political prisoners must be released immediately and all charges against them dropped,” she posted today on the social messaging platform.
Close to 2,000 political prisoners are scattered across the country’s correctional facilities. Most of them have been arrested in June 2023 after allegedly taking part in a demonstration or posting a derogatory Facebook comment on President Sall regime. Up to 600 of them have been released last week in a move described by observers as a sign of decreasing tensions between government and the opposition.
Former PM has already thrown her weight behind Diomaye President Coalition that is exponentially gaining traction.
” I want to name Ousmane Sonko, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Pape Ngagne Demba Touré, Amy Dia and all the others unjustly imprisoned for purely political reasons,” she added as calls are intensifying for the release of detainees.
In face of rising criticism, Senegalese authorities have made it clear that there is no political prisoner in the country, raising eyebrows in many quarters.
