by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 27 – A Senegalese political dissident who is in the US under the Convention Against Torture has sued Senegal, its Mission to the UN and official Papa Ndiaye for assaulting him outside the Mission as he filmed the country's foreign minister.
On June 26 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger held an evidentiary hearing on the defendants bid to assert diplomatic immunity or lack of diversity. Inner City Press was there.
The plaintiff, in a Senegal T-shirt, was questioned by video.
The defendant's lawyer asked him if he wasn't, in fact, a car thief. This was objected to on relevance grounds; sustained as prejudicial although no jury present.
The defense lawyer, citing his experience with the Second Circuit in immigration law, said that with a conviction, the plaintiff could not get asylum, only deferral under CAT.
After cross examination, plaintiff's wife was sworn in. Later, a "minute entry" was put on the docket, but not yet the result.
The case is Tounkara v. Republic of Senegal, et al., 21-cv-8027 (Kaplan / Lehrburger)
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