1967: Moustapha Lô, failed assassin
June 15th, 2016 Meaghan
(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.)
On this date in 1967, Moustapha Lô was executed for treason in the African nation of Senegal. He had tried to kill the country’s prime minister, Leopold Sedar Senghor, less than three months earlier.
At his trial, Lô freely admitted he’d drawn a gun on Senghor during a ceremony at the Grand Mosque of Dakar on the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha,* but denied that he ever actually intended to kill him.
“I just wanted to give him a warning to change policy,” Lô said. He added, “I wanted to prove … he was not immune to public condemnation.”
His widow, Fatou Sarr, believed him; nearly 45 years after his death, she gave her first interview to the press and said, “He was not able to kill a fly.”
But if he was in fact only acting, Lô’s performance was very convincing: he pointed his pistol at the prime minister and pulled the trigger twice. Fortunately for Senghor, the gun jammed.
The crowd quickly tackled and overpowered Lô and he was hauled away by the police.
Several other people were also accused of being part of the plot. Moustapha Drame was sentenced to life in prison, Doudou Ndiaye to ten years and Momar Mbaye to five years; two other defendants were acquitted of all charges.
Although the country’s religious leaders pleaded for Senghor to pardon his would-be assassin, the prime minister refused. Later on he claimed he had agonized over the decision for days and had nightmares about it, but he concluded, “This is not to judge according to the view of God. Only God can judge in the absolute. However, capital punishment still has a deterrent effect in Senegalese society.”
Lô met his death by firing squad. He said a prayer before his death and claimed he was dying “a martyr.”
Senghor outlived his attacker by 44 years, dying in 2001 at the age of 95.
* The holiday is locally known in Senegal as Tabaski.
On this day..
- 1704: Anna Ericksdotter, the last witch executed in Sweden - 2020
- 1779: Manuel, burned for witchcraft in the USA? - 2019
- 1944: Raymond Burgard, lycee Buffon inspiration - 2018
- 1820: William Holmes, Edward Rosewaine, and Thomas Warrington, pirates - 2017
- 1899: John Headrick and Carroll Rice, Missourians - 2015
- Feast Day of St. Vitus - 2014
- 1920: Triple lynching in Duluth, Minnesota - 2013
- 1915: 20 Hunchakian gallows - 2012
- 1648: Margaret Jones, the first witch executed in Boston - 2011
- 2004: Benjamín Altamirano lynched - 2010
- 1389: Saint Tsar Lazar, after the Battle of Kosovo - 2009
- 1945: Anicento Martinez, an American rapist in England - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Assassins,Attempted Murder,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Execution,Guest Writers,History,Notable for their Victims,Other Voices,Senegal,Shot
Tags: 1960s, 1967, june 15, leopold senghor, moustapha lo
