Eighteen Senegalese football fans imprisoned in Morocco over “hooliganism” during last month’s Africa Cup of Nations final were observing an intermittent “fast”, rather than a hunger strike, their lawyer said Saturday.
This comes after prosecutors in Rabat denied that the fans were abstaining from food, saying they have been “receiving meals in a normal and regular manner”.
The group was arrested on January 18, the day of the heated AFCON final in which Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 in Rabat.
On Friday, their lawyer, Patrick Kabou, said the detainees wrote to him claiming they would “continuously fast until Moroccan justice gives us the chance to be heard”.
But on Saturday, Kabou said they have been eating “breakfast only” to protest their pre-trial detention.
A judicial source speaking on condition of anonymity said the prison director told prosecutors that seven of them had not attended lunch on Friday but had “bought food”, without specifying how.
They later “ate dinner” in the prison cafeteria, the source added.
Kabou had said that his clients told him they were still “waiting to learn the charges against them”.
Minutes before the end of last month’s match, some Senegalese supporters attempted to storm the pitch, while Senegal’s players halted the game for nearly 20 minutes to protest a late penalty awarded to Morocco.
Some fans were also seen throwing objects onto the field, including a chair.
The 18 fans’ trial is set to resume next week.
A first court hearing in late January had been adjourned by the judge at the request of their lawyers.
The second hearing on Thursday was also postponed due to an ongoing lawyers’ strike in Morocco.
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