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

About the death of Commander Mohamed Ould Hamma Fezzaz - 30/07/2003

According to reliable sources, commander Mohamed Ould Hamma Fezzaz, who is accused of being one of the officers who led the June 8, 2003 attempted coup, died in unclear circumstances. The same sources indicate that commander Ould Hamma Fezzaz, who was arrested a few days ago in the district of "Dara annaïm" near the capital Nouakchott, has been suffering from serious injuries in the thigh and the arm.

Our source asserts that the death of commander Mohamed Ould Hamma Fezzaz occurred as a result of one out of the two following reasons: - Torture he was subjected to, during his interrogation, despite his poor health conditions.
- Lack of medical assistance; the authority would have left him succumb to his injuries.

In both cases, the tragic death of commander Ould Hamma Fezzaz illustrates the lack of interest the Mauritanian regime shows for human life as well as this regime's violation of the international laws of human rights which impose that one must provide medical care to wounded or sick prisoners, and imposes that prisoners get fair trials, where they remain innocent until proven guilty.

Our sources in Nouakchott indicate that the families of the prisoners cannot defer the treatment of their relatives to the local and international human rights organizations because of the intimidations and threats they face from the Mauritanian authority.

We, at the Mauritanian Human Rights Watch, out of respect for the dignity of Man and out of our conviction of the sacred nature of Human life:
- Strongly condemn torture or negligence that caused the death of commander Mohamed Ould Hamma Fezzaz;
- Condemn all acts of torture on prisoners and strongly call for them to be treated humanely; they must, in particular, have access to medical assistance.
- Condemn the current campaign of arrests and physical elimination that continues to be conducted away from any legality;
- Condemn the campaign of intimidations and threats against close relatives of the prisoners and their friends;
- Call on the families to remain courageous and to denounce the crimes they come to know;
- Reiterate that wisdom and leniency - not reprisals and primitive revenge - are the good moral and political ways to follow;
- Call on the international community to exert pressures on the Mauritanian authority so that it puts an end to its current campaign of torture and physical eliminations.