AFCON 2025: Morocco King Pardons Jailed Senegal Football Fans On ‘Humanitarian Grounds’

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has pardoned the Senegalese football fans jailed after violence erupted at the 2025 AFCON final in Rabat, citing ‘humanitarian grounds’, a royal court statement said on Saturday.

It said that in view “of the age-old fraternal ties” between Morocco and Senegal “and on the occasion of the advent of Eid al-Adha”, the monarch has “granted, on humanitarian grounds, his royal pardon to the Senegalese supporters”.

The Islamic Festival will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Morocco.

Recall that Senegal won the controversial January 18 AFCON final 1-0, but the match was later awarded on appeal to hosts Morocco months later.

After a penalty awarded to Morocco in stoppage time of the second half, just after a Senegal goal was disallowed, Senegalese fans tried to storm the pitch and hurled projectiles.

In February, Moroccan courts sentenced the 18 Senegalese supporters arrested in Morocco since the final to prison terms ranging from three months to a year.

Three were released from jail in mid-April after completing their three-month sentence.

Following that release, another 15 Senegalese fans remained incarcerated after receiving sentences ranging from six months to one year.

However, the royal pardon is expected to apply to the 15 convicts.

Lawyer Patrick Kabou, who represented a large number of the Senegalese, told AFP they were expected to be released late Saturday.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the charges were based mainly on footage from cameras at Rabat’s Moulay Abdellah Stadium, and on medical certificates for injured law enforcement officers and stewards.

Material damage from the violence was estimated at more than 370,000 euros (around $430,000).

AFP