Written by Ziad Abdel Fattah:
A court in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, sentenced three columnists affiliated with the party to prison on Wednesday. PasteveThey were convicted of insulting the head of state and using language deemed offensive by the court, according to local media reports.
The sentences range between two and three months.
The sentences ranged between two and three months, with the court sentencing Laminio Darou to three months in prison, while Thib and Ndiaye Touba each received two months in prison. The court also imposed a fine of 500,000 African francs on each defendant.
The case came after the three defendants were arrested in late July, following their participation in a widely controversial propaganda video in which they discussed the fate of those they described as ”traitors to the Pastif project,” statements which authorities considered to contain implicit insults to President Basiru Jumai Fai.
During the trial sessions, the defendants denied that their statements were aimed at the president, stressing that the talk came within the framework of an informal discussion and that they had no intention of offending the head of state.
For their part, the defense lawyers announced their intention to appeal the verdict before the Court of Appeal, stressing that their clients maintain their innocence and reject the accusations against them.
Senegal's rice imports saw a significant increase during 2025, at a time when the government is facing increasing challenges to protect local production from strong competition from imported rice, especially from Asian markets, despite rice being the most consumed and grown food crop in the country.
Data from the National Agency for Statistics and Demography, released at the end of July, showed that the value of rice imports reached 336.7 billion CFA francs, about $590 million, during 2025, an increase of 6.81 TP3T compared to 2024. The volume of imports also rose to 1.47 million tons, compared to 1.38 million tons in the previous year, recording the second highest level in the country's history after the record set in 2022.
Senegal is the third largest rice importer in Africa after Nigeria and Ivory Coast, and its imports have increased since 2015 by about 50% in terms of quantity and 73% in terms of value, after they amounted to about 989 thousand tons worth 194.6 billion African francs.
