Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A Senegalese opposition activist jailed for two years was convicted for “expressing political opinions” and must be released, Amnesty International said.

Malick Noel Seck was convicted on Oct. 20 for sending a death threat to members of the West African nation’s Constitutional Council. In a letter, he had asked them to not accept President Abdoulaye Wade’s candidacy for a third term in presidential elections scheduled for February.

The London-based organization said yesterday in an e-mailed statement that the letter did not contain a death threat and asked the Senegalese authorities to “end any harassment of anyone expressing a dissenting political opinion.”

--Editors: Karl Maier, Ben Holland

To contact the reporter on this story: Pauline Bax in Johannesburg at pbax@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net -0- Oct/25/2011 12:18 GMT