logo
Senegal top court rejects bid to lift amnesty for protest deaths

Senegal top court rejects bid to lift amnesty for protest deaths

Straits Times24-04-2025

DAKAR - Senegal's top court has rejected a move by lawmakers to revise an amnesty law that would have paved the way for possible prosecutions over the deaths of dozens of protesters during anti-government demonstrations between 2021 and 2024.
The West African country's parliament had approved revisions earlier this month to the law, which was passed in March 2024 under former President Macky Sall to pardon offences committed by both security forces and protesters.
Riots broke out across Senegal in the run-up to elections on March 24 last year, fuelled by concerns that Sall was muzzling his opponents and seeking to stay in power beyond the end of his mandate.
At least 65 people were killed, mostly by bullets, according to Amnesty International, making it Senegal's deadliest violent episode since it won independence from France in 1960.
Sall's government and the security forces denied any wrongdoing, although witnesses at the time told Reuters that security forces fired on crowds.
Rights groups and lawyers called for the amnesty law to be repealed because it left families of the dead with no recourse for justice.
The proposed revisions, passed by lawmakers on April 2, would have removed the amnesty for specific crimes including murder, torture and forced disappearance unless those actions had "a link to the exercise of public freedom or a democratic right", according to the ruling by the Constitutional Court published on Wednesday.
But the court found that such crimes violated the constitution and could therefore not be pardoned under any circumstances, including under the amnesty law.
Opposition coalition Takku Wallu Senegal welcomed the court's decision in a statement. Opposition lawmakers had previously voiced concerns that the proposed revisions were one-sided and would shield those protesters whom they accused of looting and stoking violence.
Senegal's ruling party Pastef also reacted positively to the ruling, saying that although the revisions it supported had been rejected, the Constitutional Court had affirmed that individuals could file complaints for serious crimes.
Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko were both released from prison after the amnesty law took effect, shortly before the vote that swept them to power. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Turkish court issues arrest warrant for owner of pro-opposition TV channel
Turkish court issues arrest warrant for owner of pro-opposition TV channel

Straits Times

timean hour ago

  • Straits Times

Turkish court issues arrest warrant for owner of pro-opposition TV channel

ANKARA - An Istanbul court has issued an arrest warrant for the owner of a television channel aligned with Turkey's main opposition party on charges of bid-rigging, the prosecutor's office said late on Tuesday. The arrest warrant for Cafer Mahiroglu, owner of Halk TV, was issued as part of an investigation into an alleged criminal organisation suspected of rigging public tenders by bribing public officials. Several main opposition CHP members including district mayors were arrested under the investigation, part of a widening legal crackdown against the jailed mayor of Istanbul, President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, and the opposition. Mahiroglu, a Turkish businessperson who lives in London, denied the charges in a post on X. "I am being accused based on the fabricated false statements and slander of someone I have never met or seen in my life," he said, adding that he has been living abroad for 35 years. "So, there is a price to be the owner of Halk TV, the people's television, and to defend democracy, rights and law." He did not say if he would return to Turkey to contest the charges. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of the Republican People's Party (CHP), who leads Erdogan in some opinion polls, was jailed in March pending trial on corruption charges, which he denies. His arrest triggered mass protests, economic turmoil and broad accusations of government influence over the judiciary and anti-democratic applications. The government has denied the accusations and said the judiciary is independent. Since his arrest, authorities have detained dozens of CHP members, officials from the Istanbul municipality, and other CHP-run municipalities. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

US intel chief warns global nuclear annihilation is closer than ever
US intel chief warns global nuclear annihilation is closer than ever

Straits Times

timean hour ago

  • Straits Times

US intel chief warns global nuclear annihilation is closer than ever

Ms Tulsi Gabbard accused unnamed political elites of trying to foment conflict between world powers. PHOTO: AFP US intel chief warns global nuclear annihilation is closer than ever WASHINGTON – Ms Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, released a video on June 11 warning that the world is closer to nuclear war than ever and accusing unnamed political elites of trying to foment conflict between world powers. Ms Gabbard didn't cite any countries by name, but her remarks echoed long time claims by Russian officials and, more recently, by far-right commentators in the US who have warned that the Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's strategic bomber fleet earlier in June made nuclear war more likely. 'As we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite and warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers,' Ms Gabbard said in the video posted to X. 'Perhaps it's because they are confident that they will have access to nuclear shelters for themselves and for their families that regular people won't have access to,' she said. 'It's up to us, the people, to speak up and demand an end to this madness.' The video was prompted by the director's visit to Hiroshima, Japan, where she said she saw the aftereffects of the US decision to drop an atomic bomb on the city in 1945. Foreboding music played in the background as archival footage showed the victims of the attack. 'A single nuclear weapon today could kill millions in just minutes, just one of these nuclear bombs would vaporise everything at its core,' Ms Gabbard said. The video then cut to mock footage of a nuclear attack on San Francisco that obliterated the Golden Gate Bridge. 'Acknowledging the past is critical to inform the future,' the director's deputy chief of staff, Ms Alexa Henning, said in a statement on the evening of June 10. 'DNI Gabbard supports President Trump's clearly stated objectives of bringing about lasting peace and stability and preventing war.' President Donald Trump said the US had 'stopped a nuclear conflict' with its mediation between India and Pakistan after a flare up in clashes between the two adversaries. The US is also looking to dismantle Iran's nuclear programme amid concerns that Israel may be readying an attack on its nuclear sites. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Rare earths: China's trump card in trade war with US
Rare earths: China's trump card in trade war with US

Straits Times

timean hour ago

  • Straits Times

Rare earths: China's trump card in trade war with US

Used in electric vehicles, hard drives, wind turbines and missiles, rare earth elements are essential to the modern economy and national defence. PHOTO: REUTERS Beijing - China is counting on one crucial advantage as it seeks to grind out a deal to ease its high-stakes trade war with the United States – dominance in rare earths. Used in electric vehicles, hard drives, wind turbines and missiles, rare earth elements are essential to the modern economy and national defence. AFP takes a look at how rare earths have become a key sticking point in talks between the US and China. Mining boom 'The Middle East has oil. China has rare earths,' Deng Xiaoping, the late Chinese leader whose pro-market reforms set the country on its path to becoming an economic powerhouse, said in 1992. Since then, Beijing's heavy investment in state-owned mining firms and lax environmental regulations compared to other industry players have turned China into the world's top supplier. The country now accounts for 92 per cent of global refined output, according to the International Energy Agency. But the flow of rare earths from China to manufacturers around the world has slowed after Beijing in early April began requiring domestic exporters to apply for a licence – widely seen as a response to US tariffs. Under the new requirements – which industry groups have said are complex and slow-moving – seven key elements and related magnets require Beijing's approval to be shipped to foreign buyers. Deep impact Ensuring access to the vital elements has become a top priority for US officials in talks with Chinese counterparts, with the two sides meeting this week in London. 'The rare earth issue has clearly... overpowered the other parts of the trade negotiations because of stoppages at plants in the United States,' said Mr Paul Triolo, a technology expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Centre for China Analysis, in an online seminar on June 9. That disruption, which forced US car giant Ford to temporarily halt production of its Explorer SUV, 'really got the attention of the White House', he said. Officials from the two countries said on June 10 that they had agreed on a 'framework' for moving forward on trade – with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressing optimism that concerns over access to rare earths 'will be resolved' eventually. Rare earth advantage The slowing of licence issuance has raised fears that more automakers will be forced to halt production while they await shipments. China's commerce ministry said over the weekend that as a 'responsible major country' it had approved a certain number of export applications, adding that it was willing to strengthen related dialogue with 'relevant countries'. But that bottleneck has highlighted Washington's reliance on Chinese rare earths for producing its defence equipment even as trade and geopolitical tensions deepen. An F-35 fighter jet contains more than 400kg of rare earth elements, noted a recent analysis by Gracelin Baskaran and Meredith Schwartz of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. 'Developing mining and processing capabilities requires a long-term effort, meaning the United States will be on the back foot for the foreseeable future,' they wrote. Playing catch up The recent export control measures are not the first time China has leveraged its dominance of rare earths supply chains. After a 2010 maritime collision between a Chinese trawler and Japanese coast guard boats in disputed waters, Beijing briefly halted shipments of its rare earths to Tokyo. The episode spurred Japan to invest in alternative sources and improve stockpiling of the vital elements – with limited success. That is 'a good illustration of the difficulty of actually reducing dependence on China', said Mr Triolo, noting that in the 15 years since the incident, Japan has achieved only 'marginal gains'. The Pentagon is trying to catch up, with its 'mine-to-magnet' strategy aiming to ensure an all-domestic supply chain for the key components by 2027. The challenge facing Washington to compete with Beijing in rare earths is compounded by sheer luck: China sits on the world's largest reserves. 'Mineable concentrations are less common than for most other mineral commodities, making extraction more costly,' wrote Rico Luman and Ewa Manthey of ING in an analysis published June 10. 'It is this complex and costly extraction and processing that make rare earths strategically significant,' they wrote. 'This gives China a strong negotiating position.' AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store