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and providing documented informations on human rights' violation in Mauritania
 

Official statement Related to the Mauritanian "Abu Greïb"

According to the Mauritanian Human Rights Watch’s well informed judiciary sources, several military and civilian detainees held in the “Wad Naga” prison (50 km east of Nouakchott) are still subjected to atrocious acts of torture, at the hands of Colonel Maawiya Ould Taya’s agents.
The MHRW has come to know specifics about the identity of several victims of torture. Among the civilians are Sidi Mohamed Ould Mohamed, Sidi Aly Ould Sid Alemine, Arafat Ould Ahmed, Al Hacene Ould Amar Jawda and Ibrahim Ould Zahaf. And among the military detainees are Commander Saleh Ould Hananna, Captain Abd Rahmane Ould Mini, Captain Al Moustafa Ould Bachir, and dozens of others we are still trying to seek to identify.

The MHRW has gathered several concordant testimonies expressed by lawyers who have recently visited the detainees, according to which, traces of vicious torture are obvious on their bodies: purulent wounds are visible on the body of Sidi Mohamed Ould Mohamed; a catalepsy and a hardening of both hands of Sidi Aly Ould Sid Alemine; a catalepsy of two fingers in one of Arafat Ould Ahmed’s hands; a catalepsy in one of Saleh Ould Hananna’s hands; open wounds in Hacene Ould Amar Jawda’s arm; traces of cigarettes getting extinguished on Al Moustafa Ould Bachir’s body; Brahim Ould Zahaf and Sidi Mohamed Ould Mohamed remained tightly attached to a tree for several consecutive days and nights; Finally the chain traces on the hands and the feet are visible on each detainee.

In order to ensure the impunity for the perpetrators of these acts of torture, the heads of the victims get covered in a plastic bag; this way the identity of such perpetrators remains unknown for their victims. To cover these acts furthermore, the Mauritanian authorities had for several weeks, prevented the families and lawyers from visiting the detainees, in obvious violation of the Mauritanian law (chapter 103 of Criminal law). Despite these measures, the MHRW succeeded in identifying several senior police officers who took a lead role in these acts of torture. Those are Mr Deddahi Ould Abdallahi, Mr Mohamed Ahid Ould Ismaïl, Mr Damis Ould Ikbeïd and Mr Ismaïl Jakiti.

The spokesman for the Committee for defense of the detainees, Me Brahim Ould Ebety, a famous lawyer and Human Rights advocate, has previously revealed that the prisoners had “undergone a more vicious form of torture, compared to that of the Iraqi Abu Greïb prison”. He had added that "traces of acts of torture are visible on the hands, the arms and the feet, and I fear serious consequences on the nervous system should specialist doctors not be allowed immediate access to and treatment of the detainees; some of them having lost the sense of feeling on parts of their bodies".

The Mauritanian Human Rights Watch: - Expresses its indignation at the vicious acts of torture inflicted to the detainees in the Wad Naga prison, in blatant violation of the Convention Against Torture adopted by the General Counsel of the United Nations on December 10 1984 in New York and ratified by the Mauritanian authority.
- Condemns brutalities and sleep, food and water depravation practiced on the detainees. - Condemns the interrogation of detainees in the absence of their legal representations; a violation of chapter 105 of the Mauritanian Criminal Law.
- Condemns the denial of the families right for visits as well as the denial of legal representation. - Calls upon the legal and political forces in Mauritania and the people of Mauritania, to seriously get mobilized in order to put an end to the current bloody scene.
- Requests the International Human Rights Organizations to send lawyers to witness interrogations and ensure due process. - Invites the International Community to put pressure on Colonel Ould Taya so that he treats the detainees in a humane and law-abiding manner.
- Finally calls for an international investigation on the practice of torture in order to give its perpetrators as well as those who give orders, the punishment they deserve.