Senegal opposition leader Ousmane Sonko charged and remanded in custody

Two months after deadly confrontations, leading Senegalese opposition figure Ousmane Sonko was charged with inciting an uprising and his party was disbanded on Monday, raising fears of additional upheaval. Sonko, a contender for president and the harshest critic of President Macky Sall, has had a spate of legal issues, which he alleges were intended to keep him out of politics.

After he was given a two-year prison sentence in absentia last month in a case involving moral corruption, riots broke out that resulted in 16 deaths, according to the government, 24 deaths, according to Amnesty International, and 30 deaths, according to Sonko's PASTEF party.

Despite that sentence, he had not yet been imprisoned.

He was detained on Friday in connection with further accusations stemming from remarks he has made, demonstrations he has led, and other incidents since 2021.

The newly filed charges include stealing, spreading false information, criminal connection with a terrorist organisation, and undermining state security.

"I have just been unjustly placed in custody", Sonko wrote on Facebook on Monday afternoon.

"If the Senegalese people, for whom I have always fought, abdicate and decide to leave me in the hands of Macky Sall's regime, I will submit, as always, to divine will", he said.

Less than two hours after Sonko was charged, the interior minister declared that PASTEF would be disbanded since it had "frequently" advocated for an uprising that resulted in destruction and casualties.

The high-profile moral corruption case in which Sonko was jailed on June 1 had "nothing to do" with this new legal matter, according to the public prosecutor in Senegal on Saturday.

He will not be able to vote in the presidential election of next year as a result of that ruling.

However, his attorneys have maintained that because he was prosecuted in absentia, his arrest on Friday nullified his conviction in the moral corruption case.

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