Mauritania: IPI condemns seizure of weekly newspaper's 22 August 2002 issue

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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ACTION ALERT UPDATE - MAURITANIA

9 September 2002

IPI condemns seizure of weekly newspaper's 22 August 2002 issue

SOURCE: International Press Institute (IPI), Vienna

**New case and update to IFEX alert of 22 August 2002; please note that in
the previous alert on the case, "El Qalem" newspaper was spelled "Le
Calame". For further information on the "La Tribune" case, see alert of 9
July 2002; for the Mohamed Fall Ould Oumere case, see alerts of 1 May and 16
April 2002; for the Ould Bah case, see alert of 11 April 2001**

(IPI/IFEX) - The following is a 6 September 2002 IPI letter to President
Maawiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya:

H.E. Maawiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya
President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Office of the President
BP 184, Nouakchott
Mauritania

Vienna, 6 September 2002

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors,
media executives and leading journalists, strongly condemns the seizure of
issue number 219 of El Qalem, an Arabic-language weekly newspaper.

According to the information provided to IPI, the Ministry of the Interior,
Posts and Telecommunications issued a ban on the 19 August 2002 edition of
the El Qalem newspaper on 22 August 2002. No official explanation was given
although the seizure was based upon Article 11 of the 25 July 1991 Law on
Press Freedom in Mauritania, which empowers the Ministry to ban publications
considered "likely to undermine the principles of Islam or the image of the
State, to harm the public good, to compromise public order and security."

Riadh Ould Mohamed Elhadi, the editor-in-chief of El Qalem, said the
Ministry's action may have been related to an article published in the
edition, which criticised political Islam.

At least six newspapers have been censored by the Interior Ministry in the
last 12 months. Two of them were banned in July 2002. Issue number 165 of La
Tribune, a French-language weekly, which was due on 2 July, and issue number
seven of Le Rénovateur, an independent bi-weekly, which was seized on 24
July.

The managing editor of La Tribune, Mohamed Fall Ould Oumere, had previously
been arbitrarily arrested on 12 April 2002 for investigating the activities
of an unofficial organisation called "Conscience et Résistance". He was
detained in the offices of the State Security Services and released on 21
April without trial.

Cheikh Tidiane Dia, editor of Le Rénovateur, said no explanation was given
for the seizure of his newspaper although he suspects that the Interior
Ministry may have been unhappy about an article on foreign exchange rates
and the increase in the prices of essential goods in the country. Dia
received notification of the seizure on 30 July, one week after the edition
had been registered under Mauritanian law.

IPI would point out to Your Excellency that the Interior Minister is not the
only government department interfering in freedom of expression in
Mauritania. In April 2001, the Minister of Communications and Relations with
Parliament, Rachid Ould, told Ould Bah, a correspondent for both Radio
France International and Radio Monte Carlo Middle East, that he was no
longer authorised to work. This came after a meeting was held between the
two of them, which Rachid Ould had instigated. Bah had broadcast a report of
Your Excellency's visit to Senegal in which he mentioned the warming of
relations between the two countries and the possibility that Mauritania
could soon be an important exporter to Senegal.

The 1991 Law on Press Freedom encourages the arbitrary and unwarranted
clampdown on free expression and the media in Mauritania. IPI therefore
appeals to Your Excellency to do everything in your power to repeal the Law,
cease the seizure of media publications in the country, and uphold
Mauritania's constitution, which "solemnly proclaims its attachment to the
principles of democracy as they have been defined by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights as well as other international conventions
Mauritania has signed."

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Similar appeals can be sent to:

H.E. Maawiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya
President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Office of the President
BP 184, Nouakchott
Mauritania

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

For further information, contact IPI at Spiegelgasse 2, A-1010 Vienna,
Austria, tel: +43 1 512 90 11, fax: +43 1 512 90 14, e-mail: Michael Kudlak
at [email protected], Barbara Trionfi at [email protected], or David
Dadge at [email protected], Internet site: www.freemedia.at

The information contained in this action alert update is the sole
responsibility of IPI. In citing this material for broadcast or publication,
please credit IPI.
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