DAKAR: A Jailed opposition leader of Senegal, Ousmane Sonko has been admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU), after three weeks into a hunger strike to protest criminal charges against him, Arab media reported on Thursday.
Sonko was detained on July 31 before his trial on charges of conspiracy against the state and other alleged crimes.
Senegalese Opposition Leader in ICU
He has been admitted at Dakar’s main hospital, Since August 6, because of the impacts from his hunger strike.
After fainting during the night, Sonko was taken into an intensive care unit in the same hospital, where he finally regained consciousness.
Initially Sonko declined to receive medical assistance but his allies are trying to convince him to change his decision of hunger strike.
Sonko was placed third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and is popular in country’s youth.
His supporters say the charges against him, are part of a government’s move to disrupt his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. The charges against him include rape, death threats, defamation and conspiracy against the state.
Human Rights Watch has demanded reinstatement of Sonko’s party, whereas the government of Senegal insists the party was dissolved on July 31, the day Sonko was put in detention.
