Senegal gives suspended term to man who urged women be killed
May 29, 2019
Ousmane Mbengue was arrested for his comments last week, which he posted three days after a girl in Tambacounda, eastern Senegal, was murdered following an attempted rape.
A Senegalese court on Wednesday handed a six-month suspended jail term to a man who had urged the public on Facebook to "kill lots" of women after a murder case that shook the West African country.
Ousmane Mbengue was arrested for his comments last week, which he posted three days after a girl in Tambacounda, eastern Senegal, was murdered following an attempted rape.
Mbengue had written that by reducing its number of women, Senegal could "one day hope to become a developed country" -- a statement that his lawyers said was a joke.
"We should kill lots (of women), even. All of Senegal's problems stem from women," he wrote.
Mbengue, aged in his thirties, later apologised for the post and reiterated his apologies at the trial on Monday.
The court in Dakar found him guilty of "provoking and inciting the commission of a crime or a offence," but not guilty of the charge of "apologising for a crime."
Prosecutors had sought a two-year jail term, six months of which should be suspended.
Defence lawyer Aboubacry Barro, said the six-month suspended term was "very satisfactory."
"The court, in its wisdom, understood that my client was making a joke, and took his apologies into account," Barro said.
Another defence attorney, Cheikh Ba, had argued, "If all the women are killed, who will give birth to the Senegalese of tomorrow? Who will take care of them, who will cook for them? My client obviously doesn't want to kill all women."