According to their lawyer, who spoke to AFP on Friday, 18 Senegalese football supporters who were arrested in Morocco for “hooliganism” at the Africa Cup of Nations final last month have started a hunger strike while they await trial.
Their clients told attorney Patrick Kabou that they have been “waiting to learn the charges against them since January 18,” the day they were taken into custody following a contentious AFCON final in Rabat where Senegal defeated Morocco.
According to Kabou, the group expressed dissatisfaction over police officers asking them questions in French and Arabic when they “only speak Wolof,” which is their native tongue.
Senegalese fans tried to storm the field just minutes before the game ended last month, and Senegal’s players stopped play for about 20 minutes to protest a late penalty that Morocco had been given.
Additionally, several spectators were observed hurling chairs and other items into the field.
The group vowed to stay on strike “until Moroccan justice gives us the chance to be heard,” adding that they were being denied their “right to justice.”
Due to an ongoing lawyers’ strike in Morocco, the judge postponed the second court hearing on Thursday and postponed the first one in late January.
Next week, the trial is scheduled to resume.
