(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Dah Ould Abdel Jellil, RSF protested the seizure of the most recent issue of the weekly “La Tribune”. The organisation asked the minister “to see to it that Article 11 of the press law is abolished”. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard added: “Since 1 January 2000, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Dah Ould Abdel Jellil, RSF protested the seizure of the most recent issue of the weekly “La Tribune”. The organisation asked the minister “to see to it that Article 11 of the press law is abolished”. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard added: “Since 1 January 2000, six Mauritanian newspapers have been seized in accordance with this article, which allows the authorities to practise censorship in the country.”
According to information collected by RSF, on 23 August, the Mauritanian authorities referred to Article 11 of the press law in order to seize issue 137 of the private weekly “La Tribune”. According to Mohammed F. Ould Oumère, the newspaper’s editor, this seizure was provoked by the publication of an editorial titled “A party to celebrate what?”, which dealt with the commemoration of the 10 July 1978 coup d’état, and considered that “the military’s results are negative at every level”. A very critical report about the head of state’s travels within the country is also allegedly responsible for the seizure.
Article 11 of the Mauritanian press law holds that “the ministry can, by decree, ban the circulation, distribution or sale of newspapers […] which attack the principles of Islam or the credibility of the State, harm the general interest, or disturb public order and security […]”. In any such case, the Ministry of the Interior is under no obligation to justify its decision.
