A U.N. panel has accused Senegalese authorities of arbitrarily detaining the son of former president Abdoulaye Wade, and called on the government to hand over unspecified compensation, a draft report showed.
Karim Wade, formerly head of four ministries and now presidential candidate for the main opposition party SDP, was jailed for six years in March for illicit enrichment and ordered to pay a 138 billion CFA franc ($233.99 million) fine. Reuters reported.
Senegal’s current President Macky Sall said the trial was part of a broader crackdown on corruption, but the opposition and other critics dismissed it as a politically motivated bid to stamp out dissent.
A document by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which operates under the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights asked the Senegal government to remedy prejudice inflicted by ensuring full compensation. The group did not specify what form of compensation should be made.
It said it should be made under a U.N. human rights covenant that orders compensation for victims of unlawful arrest or detention.
Senegal’s justice minister Sidiki Kaba said that the U.N. did not have any authority over domestic rulings stating that the country is a sovereign sate and its judicial institutions made the rulings.
