Gabon opposition leader jailed for political reasons, his lawyers say

Gabon's main opposition leader, Alain Claude Bilie By Nze, has been in jail for more than three months after the ​government resurrected an 18-year-old private financial dispute as a pretext ‌to sideline him, his lawyers said in a statement."A man is being held on the basis of a case ​file his defence has never been permitted to see," ​Nze’s counsel, ⁠Arthur Vercken, said in the statement.

The basis for his arrest was a private dispute over about 7,600 euros ($8,650) dating to 2008, they said.