Senegalese opposition figure Ousmane Sonko was arrested Friday, July 28, two members of his party and a senior security official told Agence France-Presse (AFP), though no precise reasons were given. "Ousmane Sonko was arrested – there were gendarmes in front of his house," said Ousseynou Ly, a spokesman for Sonko's Pastef party.
Djibril Gueye Ndiaye, the politician's head of protocol, said the gendarmerie came and "took" him. A senior security official confirmed to AFP that Sonko had been arrested but did not specify the reasons. The arrest happened in the late afternoon on Friday, a national holiday in Senegal. In a message posted on social media, the French lawyer Juan Branco, who represents Sonko, said the politician had been locked up in a courthouse basement.
Sonko, a firebrand politician and presidential candidate, was sentenced in June to two years in prison for morally corrupting a young woman, a conviction that renders him ineligible. He was tried in absentia.
On July 24, a security detail that had confined him to his home in Dakar was lifted. It had been in place since May 28.
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