Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane arrested

Senior security officials and members of Ousmane Sonko's party told AFP that the prominent Senegalese opposition politician was detained on Friday, though no specific justification was offered.

"Ousmane Sonko was arrested. There were armed police outside his house," said Ousseynou Ly, a spokesman for Sonko's PASTEF party.

The firebrand politician's protocol officer, Djibril Gueye Ndiaye, claimed that the gendarmes (police) arrived and "took" him.

The arrest of Sonko was confirmed to AFP by a top security official, who did not provide any other information.

The alleged arrest took place on Friday, a national holiday in Senegal, in the late afternoon.

Sonko's French attorney Juan Branco said the politician had been imprisoned in a courthouse basement in a statement posted on Twitter, which is now known as X.

Two anti-riot trucks were among the police vehicles positioned outside Dakar's main courthouse on Friday evening, according to AFP journalists.

They claimed that a crowd had gathered in front of Sonko's residence in the capital.

Sonko, a candidate for president against the current head of state Macky Sall, was given a two-year prison sentence in absentia in June for morally corrupting a young woman; as a result of this conviction, he is no longer permitted to run in the election the following year.

Over the course of two years, the case periodically generated uproar.

When he was convicted, they culminated in deadly battles that, according to the government, Amnesty International, and Sonko's party, claimed to have left 16 dead, 24 dead, and 30 dead.

Sonko was kept inside his Dakar home until a security detail was removed on July 24. Since May 28th, it had been in effect.

Sonko claimed on social media earlier on Friday afternoon that security personnel outside his home had been recording him.

He claimed to have stolen one of the phones and ordered the photographs to be destroyed, but that his request had been turned down.

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