Attacks on the Press in 2006 - Snapshots: Mauritania
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | February 2007 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, Attacks on the Press in 2006 - Snapshots: Mauritania, February 2007, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/47c56768c.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Security authorities detained El-Moustapha Ould Aoufa, a correspondent for the Iranian Arabic-language satellite channel Al-Alam and chief editor of the state-run Mauritanian TV. The March 4 arrest followed a program by Al-Alam on unrest in the Azouad region of neighboring Mali. Mauritanian authorities believed the program had offended a friendly government, the local independent news agency Al-Akhbar reported. Aoufa and his guest on the show, El-Moukhtar el-Jaid, were arrested shortly after the broadcast. Aoufa was accused of aiding someone hostile to a friendly government. Security agents handed over el-Jaid, an Azaouad activist, to Malian authorities. In the program, el-Jaid accused the Malian government of carrying out extrajudicial killings of Azouad opposition activists, Al-Akhbar reported. The Azaouad region, located in northwestern Mali, is inhabited by Touareg herders who are fighting the central government in Bamako. Mauritanian TV sacked Aoufa a few hours after his release on March 7, according to Al-Akhbar.
