SENEGAL: Presidential hopeful loses appeal against jail time

Senegal’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that jailed presidential hopeful Khalifa Sall could not appeal a prison sentence for embezzlement, his lawyers said, likely ending his chance of running as a free man in February polls. The popular former mayor of Dakar was arrested in March 2017 on suspicion of embezzling 1.8 billion CFA francs […]

Senegal’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that jailed presidential hopeful Khalifa Sall could not appeal a prison sentence for embezzlement, his lawyers said, likely ending his chance of running as a free man in February polls.

The popular former mayor of Dakar was arrested in March 2017 on suspicion of embezzling 1.8 billion CFA francs ($3 million) in public funds. Last year he was sentenced to five years in jail.

Khalifa Sall’s lawyer, Seydou Diagne, said his client had not been stripped of his political rights and still stood a chance of running in the election. Diagne said he plans to take the case to another chamber of the court, which would take more than a month.

State lawyers were not available for comment.

Despite his imprisonment, Khalifa Sall was one of just five candidates who collected the 53,000 supporting signatures required to run for election.