Arrested in 2015 over terrorism offenses before being released in 2018, Imam Alioune Ndao died on Monday night in Dakar, family sources confirmed to APA.
By Abdou Cisse
The 62-year-old influential cleric was admitted to a health facility in the Senegalese capital for treatment following a minor pain on one of his hands.
In recent days, his health had deteriorated to the point that a fundraising campaign was launched on the Internet to facilitate better medical care for him.
Some 20 million CFA francs were collected for this purpose.
While Secretary General of the Kaolack section of Senegal’s League of Imams and Ulemas, Imam Alioune Ndao was arrested on the night of October 26-27, 2015 at his home in Ngane Alassane, an outlying neighborhood of Kaolack, 222 kilometers southeast of Dakar.
He was suspected of colluding with a group of young Senegalese members of the jihadist group Boko Haram then led by Abubakar Shekau, who was killed in May 2021 by a rival faction close to the Islamic State.
Prosecuted for being an apologist of terrorism, acts of terrorism, financing of terrorism in an organized gang, money laundering in connection with terrorist activities and possession of weapons and ammunition of the third category without administrative authorization, Imam Ndao was given a month’s suspended sentence for possession of weapons without administrative authorization.
After his release from prison, he returned to Kaolack to take care of his Koranic school and personal farms.
AC/cgd/fss/as/APA