a civil rights forum, defending victims of oppression and prisoners of conscience,
and providing documented informations on human rights' violation in Mauritania
 

Mauritania: Political prisoners start a hunger strike February 24, 2005

According to the Mauritanian Human Rights Watch's sources, the conditions in which political prisoners in Mauritania are retained, have significantly worsened in the aftermath of the verdict. The four following prisoners:
- Saleh Ould Hananna
- Abdarrahmane Ould Minni
- Mohamed Lemine Ould War
- Sidi Mohamed Ould Hremou
are placed in solitary confinement, have chains day and night and are not allowed access to the toilets. The conditions of the other prisoners are not any better. They are gathered in a narrow and nauseous place and are not allowed any families nor lawyers visits. These conditions constitute an obvious violation of Human Rights as well as the Mauritanian law.
Using propaganda the Mauritanian regime had tried to mislead the national and international public opinions making them believe that the verdict was just. It is well known though that this verdict was based on "confessions" extorted under torture! Certain agents of the regime went even further in their lies claiming that the families were satisfied with the severe verdict inflicted upon their loved ones!
One of the objectives of that campaign was to divert the attention of Human and Civil Rights militants. The prisoners would then undergo the same fate the Negro-Africans endured in 1988 at the extreme prison of Walata: a slow and painful death.

This is why the Wad Naga prisoners have decided today to start a 5 days long hunger strike, aiming at raising the awareness of the national and international public opinions. The single demand they have formulated is their transfer to a place with decent conditions of detention and access to toilets.
The MHRW has learned in addition, that Professor Ely Ould Sneba, a political opponent who has been lately condemned in absentia to 5 years of imprisonment without parole and who has been recently expelled from Senegal, is currently in detention in Mali where he risks to be extradited to Mauritania.

The Mauritanian Human Rights Watch, an organization that struggles against political repressions:
- Condemns the ongoing mistreatment inflicted to the Wad Naga prisoners ; suppoprts their hunger strike and invites the national and international Human Rights organizations to support them in their legitimate demand for a vital minimum condition.
- Reminds the authority in Mali, a brother country whose democracy is an example in the region, its duty in protecting political refugees.