AFCON final 2025: The CNDH reports on the detention of the prosecuted fans

This Wednesday, the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) announced its vigilant oversight of the trial involving 18 Senegalese fans and a French-Algerian national, all facing charges of hooliganism after the violence that disrupted the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final. The CNDH's monitoring efforts include scrutinizing incidents, narratives, and discussions, especially those circulating on digital platforms, while also observing the trial proceedings in both the initial and appellate stages.

In this context, the CNDH stressed that its observation focuses on ensuring "the effective respect of fair trial guarantees, particularly regarding the public nature of hearings, the presumption of innocence, and the effectiveness of defense rights, especially the right to legal counsel and access to translation and interpretation services."

Concurrently, the CNDH has dispatched a monitoring team, along with a medical expert, to the local prisons of El Arjat 1 and El Arjat 2 in Salé. Within this framework, interviews were conducted with the detainees "without the presence of the prison administration, directly within the cells."

Based on these interactions, the CNDH reports that the detainees "did not make any allegations regarding violations of their rights." The CNDH team also engaged with administrative officials and medical staff, in addition to reviewing the files and "directly observing the detention conditions."

Moreover, CNDH President Amina Bouayach met with the head of the Senegalese National Human Rights Commission during the General Assembly of the African Network of National Human Rights Institutions in February 2026. During this encounter, she briefed her counterpart on the CNDH's initiatives.