The 87-year-old returned home last week after Cheikh Seck, the owner of Senegalese football club Jaraaf, of which he has been President for various periods since the 1970s, paid a €500,000 ($730,000/£515,000) bond to the French authorities.

President of the athletics world governing body - since renamed World Athletics - from 1999 to 2015, Diack was convicted in Paris last September on multiple charges of corruption during his tenure, some of it related to the Russian doping scandal.

Diack was convicted of accepting €3.2 million ($3.8 million/£2.75 million) in bribes from athletes suspected of doping, to cover up their test results and let them continue competing, including in the 2012 London Olympics.

He was sentenced to four years in prison, with two of those years suspended, but French justice authorities said that, at his age, he was unlikely to spend any time in jail.

Simon Ndiaye, a lawyer for Diack, revealed he had been allowed to leave France after posting bail in a separate case involving alleged bribery in the build-up to the vote for the host city for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games awarded to Rio de Janeiro.

Diack was handed preliminary charges in that case and his passport was confiscated, but a French judge lifted the ban on him leaving the country on condition he paid €500,000 and continued to answer court summons, Ndiaye told The Associated Press.

"He was relieved, moved and happy to be able to return to his country and his family,'" Ndiaye added.

"But it remains a legal case that affects him.

"He finds it unfair.

"He continues to deny wrongdoing in both cases."

A source close to Diack was reported in Senegalese newspaper Lequotidien as saying :"He does not want popular reception, on the contrary, he asks for prayers for justice to be done in this case since he has appealed against his conviction by the French justice."

The source added that Diack would take the time to speak with the press "at the appropriate time".

Diack was in a wheelchair after arriving at Blaise Diagne airport on board an Air France flight, but was able to walk through arrivals with the help of a stick and partially supported by others.

Seck, a businessman and former Senegal international goalkeeper, told BBC Sport that Diack is a "worthy son of the nation, an all-round remarkable citizen", claiming his return was "a moment of joy and pride".

Seck added: "His time in France lasted for too long and the Jaraaf family is happy with this ending.

"You can imagine how happy he was, and about his reunion with his daughters."

Youssou Dial, vice president in charge of finance at Jaraaf de Dakar, told Associated Press that the club raised the money by selling off some of its properties.

Despite the scandal, Diack, who was the 1958 French long jump champion before moving into sports administration and politics, has always enjoyed support in Senegal with a group called the "Collectif Lamine Diack" organising several demonstrations.

"The love Senegalese have showed for Lamine Diack has always been positive and never tainted to the point that one does not call into question either his probity, or what he represents in this country," journalist Harouna Deme told BBC Afrique.

Diack’s son, Papa Massata Diack, who worked as an IAAF marketing consultant, was also convicted in Paris and was sentenced to five years in jail in his absence.

The judge claimed that $15 million (£10.5 million/€12.2 million) was funnelled to the younger Diack's companies from various contracts negotiated by the IAAF while his father was in charge.

Papa Massata Diack lives in Senegal, which refused to extradite him to France for the trial.

Both Diacks have appealed against their convictions.