(Reuters) – Senegal authorities have detained former justice minister Amadou Sall after he criticized the president of the West African nation over the handling of a politically charged corruption case involving the son of ex-president Abdoulaye Wade.
Cire Cledor Ly, a lawyer in Karim Wade’s defense team, told Reuters that Sall – also a member of the defense team – was arrested on Tuesday for insulting the head of state and inciting public disorder.
No one at the police service or at the ministry of justice was immediately available to comment.
A specially convened court is expected to deliver a verdict on the case against Karim Wade on Monday and a specialist prosecutor is seeking a seven-year prison sentence.
Karim Wade’s supporters say that an expected guilty verdict was aimed at stopping him challenging President Macky Sall in the next presidential election, likely to be held in 2017.
Sall, who has no family connection with the president, was quoted in a local paper saying: “If Karim Wade is found guilty, President Macky Sall will not spend another night at the presidential palace.”
President Sall, who defeated Wade in a hotly contested election in 2012, said on Tuesday that he will not tolerate any trouble in the generally stable West African nation.
