AFCON 2025: Supporters detained in Morocco, a situation that is getting worrisome
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All original articlesTwenty-four days after the consecration of Senegal at the AFCON 2025, the 18 Senegalese supporters are still in pre-trial detention in Moroccan jails. Incessant postponements of hearings, a prolonged strike by lawyers and the lack of guarantee of a fair trial, hunger strike by 18 supporters... As many parameters that cause emotion and concern in the country of Teranga. Senegalese diplomacy seems to have had no effect in this file which is slowly but surely getting bogged down.
Chaotic scenes at the finals in Morocco
Rabat, Prince Moulay Abdallah stadium, the evening of January 18 foreshadowed a sulphurous final between Morocco, host country of the 35th edition of the AFCON and Senegal. The tension is born 3 days prior during the chaotic reception of the Senegalese selection at the station of Rabat followed by the press conference of Pape Thiaw criticizing the lack of fair play finished to set the stage for what this final was going to be. The arbitration of the Congolese man in black, Jean-Jacques Ndala, was the last straw that broke the vase. The happy outcome for Senegal on a goal by Pape Gueye in extra time was a poisoned gift for some Senegalese supporters.
Disillusioned by the cancellation of Ismaïla Sarr’s goal and then the generous penalty awarded to Brahim Diaz at the end of the match, the Senegalese supporters ended up exploding their fury. Exasperated by the provocation of the Moroccan ball-pickers who have not stopped stealing the pads of Senegal’s goalkeeper, Édouard Mendy, and by the attitude of the stewards assaulting Senegalese photographers on the handrail, some of them enter the pitch to fight it out. What followed was an indescribable pitched battle, aggravated by the arrival of Moroccan forces of order. Eighteen Senegalese supporters are arrested and placed in pre-trial detention. Twenty-four days later, they are still imprisoned in Rabat.
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«Total lack of guarantee of a fair trial»
At the moment when Senegal continues the parade of its 2nd AFCON trophy in the 14 regions of the country, the anguish continues to grow around the fate of the 18 fans held in Morocco for almost 4 weeks. This Thursday, February 12, they are expected to appear before the judge of the Court of First Instance of Rabat. With the risk of another postponement of their trial, due to the strike movement by Moroccan lawyers that has been going on for more than two weeks. A situation that led to the hunger strike of nearly 10 days by the 18 detainees.
«There is a total lack of fair trial guarantee»
For their defense, a pool of 15 lawyers set up is working not without difficulties in the face of the refusal of the Moroccan courts to make the procedure available to them.
“To date (February 11), we still do not have the file. What is surprising is that the party has already sent us their conclusions (...) We wrote to the King’s prosecutor to talk with our 18 compatriots. He allowed us to see only 5. And of the 5, I met only 2,"
says Me Kabou, one of the constituted lawyers, interviewed yesterday Wednesday on Senegalese national television.
On his Facebook page, he alerts:
"There is a total lack of guarantee of fair trial (...) It should be agreed that our 18 compatriots are hostages in the legal sense of the term. A hostage-taking that combines with restrictions that shamefully and unscrupulously violate international texts on fair trial, respect for the rights of defense and the rights of detainees (...) The match between Senegal and Morocco ended on January 18, 2026, by holding them without respecting their rights, their status as supporters passes to that of hostages in your hands,"
added Mr. Kabou.
Family tragedies, ineffective diplomacy...
The bonds of brotherhood between Morocco and Senegal were long sung during the AFCON. Until the evening of January 18, nothing suggested such a tension observed between these two countries. To ease this tension, Ousmane Sonko went to Morocco on 26 and 27 January.
«The Senegalese-Moroccan friendship is stronger than the emotions of the chaotic final of the AFCON»,
declared the Prime Minister of Senegal in front of these Moroccan counterparts. After this diplomatic visit, the thaw was then expected with immediate effect: the release of the 18 Senegalese supporters. What no. In the aftermath, their trial was postponed on January 29, then on February 5.
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Faced with what seems to be a failure of Senegalese diplomacy, the ASC Lebougui, in collaboration with the "12th Gaïndé" and Allez-Casa launches a series of actions for the release of their "brothers" detained in Morocco. In Dangou, a traditional district of the city of Rufisque, particularly impacted by these arrests, a prayer vigil was organized on the night of February 10. A national march in the capital in addition to a peaceful mobilization in front of the Embassy of Morocco in Senegal constitutes this arsenal to force the Moroccan authorities to judge their compatriots as soon as possible.
The collective of Senegalese supporters denounces the conditions of detention of their colleagues. They did not fail to report family dramas caused by the absence of these fathers who no longer have the possibility to manage the daily lives of their loved ones.
"When they phone their relatives in Senegal, their jailers force them to speak French,"
denounces this member of the supporters of Lebougui. The latter criticizes the absence of the Senegalese authorities for the temporary care of these families plunged into disarray.