Karim Wade, who is bidding to follow his father Abdoulaye Wade as Senegal’s president, will appeal his prison sentence.
This is according to his lawyer Mohamed Seydou Diagne. On Monday a Senegal court sentenced Karim Wade to six years in prison for corruption.
Karims supporter Khadija Mbake said, “Everyone knows this was always going to be a political verdict. This is shameful for a country like Senegal. It’s ugly. ”
However the prosecution lawyer, El Hadj Diouf defended this and , “I find the verdict very moderate. We didn’t wish this verdict on Mr Karim Wade. I like him. I like his father and I am being very sincere. But I put Senegal first. I put the truth above all, and you know the law is tough.”
Karim Wade, who has been in detention since April 2013, was chosen by the main opposition party, the Senegalese Democratic Party, as its presidential candidate on Saturday.
On Monday a court in the capital Dakar, sentenced him to six years in prison for corruption.
Wade was also slapped with a 230 million dollars fine for illegal enrichment during his father’s 12-year rule.
Wade, who staged a four-day hunger strike in January to protest over the conditions of his detention, has repeatedly said he is a victim of a political witch hunt, a claim the government strongly denies.
46 year old Karim did not attend the final session of the trial and his father Abdoulaye Wade left without making any comment to the media.
Despite the six-year sentence, the prosecution said the verdict wasn’t as tough as it could have been.
Wade’s lawyer Mohamed Seydou Diagne said he would appeal against the verdict.
Wade was a senior minister in his father’s government, and was in charge of major infrastructure and energy projects.
