Republic of Senegal, is a country in West Africa
A Senegalese judge remanded 43 followers of an
influential religious leader in pre-trial custody on Tuesday for
alleged involvement in human trafficking, one of their lawyers
said.
Police in the West African state arrested the suspects late
November as part of an investigation into scooter thefts, which
allegedly revealed a trafficking network at “reform centres” run by
religious leader Serigne Modou Kara Mbacke.
Officers freed more than 370 people at the centres, located in
the seaside capital Dakar, whom they said had been illegally
detained and kept in deplorable conditions.
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Mbacke belongs to the Mouride brotherhood, a powerful Sufi
Muslim order, and is the head of a political party.
His “reform centres” across Senegal mainly target wayward
youths.
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Victims have alleged that several people died at the centres in
recent years, with the most recent death occurring in November.
Mbacke’s press office has denied the accusations.
Mouride spokesperson Mounirou Sarr said a judge had charged 43
men who allegedly ran the centres with “criminal association,
kidnapping and violence”.
Abdoulaye Tall, one of detainees’ lawyers, told AFP that they
had all been remanded in pre-trial detention.
It is not yet clear whether judges will pursue Mbacke — who has
a personal militia and styles himself as ‘the General’.
More than 90 percent of Senegalese are Muslim and most of the
faithful follow Sufi brotherhoods, which retain considerable
economic and political clout in the former French colony of 16
million people.
AFP
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/12/09/43-detained-in-senegal-over-human-trafficking/