«18 Sénégalais otages du Maroc» : les trois supporters des Lions libérés racontent
Ibrahima Diop, Aziz Wade, and Abdoulaye Diagne have been released after three months of detention in Al Arjat prison in Rabat, Morocco. They have returned to Senegal, leaving behind the fifteen other Lions supporters sentenced to harsher terms for their involvement in the incidents during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final. They spoke to L'Observateur about their ordeal. While Diop seems to want to put the events behind him, events that severely strained relations between Morocco and Senegal, Wade and Diagne are finding it hard to accept. Excerpts follow.
Abdoulaye Diagne
“I was arrested after Ibbou [Ibrahima Diop] . I was in the stands when he was arrested, and I witnessed it firsthand. They grabbed him roughly, lifted him off the ground; his feet weren't even touching the ground anymore. That's when I decided to go downstairs. Since we were constantly surrounded, as part of the security measures, by Senegalese and Moroccan police officers, I approached to try and talk to them. But very quickly, a communication problem arose. The Moroccan police officers understood essentially only Arabic; very few of them spoke French. On our side, some of the Senegalese supporters only spoke Wolof. I'm convinced that most of the incidents that occurred in the stadium stemmed from this linguistic misunderstanding.” The Moroccan police believed we were trying to invade the pitch to protest the penalty, which wasn't the case. Furthermore, it's important to clarify that the seats in our stand were fixed. The trigger for the chaos came from a steward, sitting on a movable chair, who used it to assault one of our supporters. This action sparked the clashes: the supporter retaliated. You can't assault someone and then prevent them from defending themselves.
Aziz Wade
“We all know that a football match can turn violent, that there can be arrests, but these are usually summary arrests within a purely sporting context. But what we experienced in Morocco was very difficult. Very trying. The most trying thing was when we were told we were under arrest. At that precise moment, our thoughts immediately turned to our families. We knew that with Senegal's victory in the final, they would try to contact us, but wouldn't be able to. It was an extremely difficult situation. As we were being led away, Ibou (Ibrahima Diop) already had a feeling that the Moroccan authorities weren't going to release us. He was convinced we were going to be brought before the prosecutor. Some supporters' leaders present tried to reassure us, saying they would come and get us, but he remained convinced we were going to be detained in Morocco.”
Ibrahima Diop
“It is true that we went through extremely difficult times, to the point of sometimes feeling deeply shaken. We are human beings. For my part, I thought a great deal about my family who remained in Senegal, but also about the Tijaniyya Sufi order, which spiritually unites Senegal and Morocco. I wept. I kept thinking: ‘I am a Tijani, a disciple of Sheikh Ahmed Tidiane Chérif; doesn’t what is happening to us risk shaking these long years of religious communion between our two countries?’ Then I pulled myself together. I told myself that, despite the ordeal, I had to hold on, remain dignified, and above all reassure my family: let them know that we were resisting, that we were not being mistreated. Even though, it must be said, the mere deprivation of liberty is in itself an extremely trying ordeal.”
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