Senegal’s embattled opposition leader Ousmane Sonko will go on trial for alleged rape on May 16, his accuser’s lawyer El Hadji Diouf said Saturday, confirming media reports.

A firebrand speaker who came third in Senegal’s presidential election in 2019, Sonko has enjoyed a rapid political rise thanks in part to his popularity with young people and has declared himself a candidate for the 2024 elections.

He has had several brushes with the law, however, and was accused of rape by an employee of a beauty salon where he went for a massage.

Sonko, a 48-year-old former tax inspector, has denied the charge and says he is the victim of a plot by President Macky Sall seeking to torpedo his 2024 candidacy.

Sonko’s arrest in March 2021 unleashed several days of deadly rioting in which at least 12 people were killed.

Sall’s party accuses Sonko of seeking to paralyse Senegal and drumming up anger on the streets to escape justice.

A judge In January transferred the rape case to a criminal court.

On March 31, Soko was handed a two-month suspended sentence for defaming Tourism Minister Mame Mbaye Niang, a member of Sall’s party.

Several human rights organisations have expressed concern about restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression in the West African nation and have urged Sall not to seek a third term.

The president has not clarified his intentions but rejects claims that it would be unconstitutional for him to run again. (AFP)

•Senegalese opposition figure Ousmane Sonko discuss with members of the police outside his residence in Dakar on June 17, 2022

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