Mauritanian Human Rights Watch

July 17 2003

Press release

regarding the ban of Bar president Me O Bettah

We, at the Mauritanian Human Rights Watch, have been surprised when we learned that a group of lawyers - inspired by the authority - has decided to ban Me Mahfoudh Ould Bettah, president of the Bar Association of Mauritania, for 3 years.

The group of lawyers responsible for this decision is lead by Me Mohamed Melainine Ould Khalifa, an active militant of the party at power (PRDS) ; he is a representative of that political party in the municipal council of one of the main districts (Tevragh Zaïna) of the capital Nouakchott. He is backed by lawyers close to the authority in Mauritania; who are hence tied with him politically.

This group claims to be the legitimate board of the Bar Association after having falsified the elections with the active complicity of the authority. The group of lawyers had thus refused to accept the outcome of the elections of June 27 2002 where Me Mahfoudh Ould Bettah won the absolute majority.

Not affiliated with any political party, Me Ould Bettah is known in Mauritania to be a man of principle and integrity. He was distinguished with some other lawyers by being voluntarily prepared to defend political prisoners as well as the victims of the political repression, the opponents of Ould Taya undergo. Among these famous lawyers are: Me Brahim Ould Ebety, Me Mohamedene Ould Ichiddou, Me Mohamed Ould Ahmed Miska, Me Al Mokhtar Ould Ely and others among their colleagues who are just and endowed with a sharp conscience.

We, at the Mauritanian Human Rights Watch:

- Strongly condemn the aggression perpetrated by the Mauritanian authority, its political party the PRDS and all their collaborators among the mercenaries lawyers, against the Bar Association,

- Dispute the confiscation of the Bar Association that represented one of the last trenches of freedom in a country where repression and violations of Human Rights are witnessed on a daily basis;

- Call for the resolution of the conflict in a transparent legal way, without the interference from the authority.

- Believe that a new election of the Bar Association under the auspices of an international and neutral legal institution is the fair and right solution for the current dispute;

- Call upon all the just among men of law, the intellectuals, the journalists, the writers and the politicians to support the legitimate President of the Bar Association of Mauritania Me Mahfoudh Ould Bettah. The ban inflicted to Me O Bettah is not only a persecution against this man of integrity and his just colleagues but an aggression against the rights of the Mauritanian Human beings; this aggression deprives him from having an unbiased legal institution that supports him vis-a-vis with an oppressing authority and an accessory justice.