A Senegal court Tuesday handed an opposition Member of Parliament a six-month suspended prison sentence for defying a ban on protests in the tense run-up to legislative elections and released another lawmaker and 82 other defendants tried in the same case.
Members of Parliament Dethie Fall and Mame Diarra Fame were tried
along with the 82 other defendants at the court in the capital Dakar.
They were arrested on June 17 during a rally called by the opposition
after its list of candidates for the elections was disqualified on technical
grounds. The rally had been banned by the authorities, citing the risk of
unrest.
Clashes broke out in Dakar and the southern region of Casamance after
youths defied the ban.
Three people died and some 200 were arrested, according to the
opposition.
