Togo opposition leader jailed for two years after criticizing President Gnassingbe

A Togo opposition leader has been imprisoned for two years after making remarks critical of President Faure Gnassingbe, his lawyer and a judicial source said on Wednesday.

Djimon Ore, president of the Front for Patriots of Democracy (FPD) party and a former communications minister, was detained last month at his home in the capital Lome.

His arrest stirred anger among opposition leaders and civil groups in Togo who said dissidents were no longer allowed to speak out under Gnassingbe who has been in power since 2005.

Ore was sentenced to 24 months in prison on Tuesday night, his lawyer Dieudonne Agbahe said, adding that they would appeal what they said was an unjustly heavy penalty.

A judicial source at the Lome court confirmed the sentence.

Ore was arrested April 29 after he made the remarks in an interview with a private TV channel during a broadcast celebrating Togo's independence from France, criticising Gnassingbe and the president's father, who himself ruled the West African state for nearly four decades.

He said "in terms of citizens killed, the military oligarch clan of Gnassingbe is much worse than in Rwanda, where we speak of genocide."

Rights groups have repeatedly criticised Togo since Gnassingbe came to power after his father died following 38 years ruling the country.

He has since been re-elected in ballots which have all been contested by the opposition. 

Ore was communication minister between 2010 and 2013 under an agreement between his party and the government. In 2014, he founded his own party, the FPD. 

In November last year, two members of a major opposition movement were arrested in Lome, accused of endangering internal state security, but they were released on bail in December.