PH
Ousmane Sonko, a detained Senegalese opposition activist who resumed a hunger strike eight days ago, is “very weak” and in an intensive care unit, one of his lawyers said AFP on Wednesday.
Sonko temporarily went into a coma on October 23, according to Cire Cledor Ly, who added that he had spoken with the politician the day before.
Sonko, he added, regained consciousness the next day but remained feeble.
“The situation is alarming — the doctors are giving him treatment that he is unable to refuse,” Cledor Ly said.
“I launch a solemn appeal to the head of state because he has the means to put an end to this situation,” he added.
Sonko, who plans to run for president in February, has accused President Macky Sall of using legal procedures to derail his political career, which the president rejects.
Sonko has been involved in a number of court fights during the last two years.
In July, he was arrested and imprisoned on a slew of allegations, including inciting insurgency, criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise, and undermining state security dating back to 2021.
According to persons close to him, he launched a hunger strike on July 30 but ended it on September 2 at the behest of powerful religious leaders.
He had already been admitted to an intensive care unit in August but resumed the strike on October 17.
In May, he was handed a six-month suspended sentence in a defamation case.
On June 1, he was condemned to two years in prison in absentia for morally influencing a young person and causing tragic fights.
Following his conviction, his name was erased from electoral rolls.
A judge decided against his removal from the lists last week, but it is still unclear if he will be able to run next year.
The General Directorate of Elections has declined to grant him with a sponsorship form, claiming that the judge’s decision was “incomplete.”
President Sall announced in July that he would not seek a third term, which many considered unconstitutional.
