During the past few days, two delegations from two official human rights bodies in Mauritania visited a number of those detained pending investigation in a case that has become known in the media as the “Bloggers Abroad File,” in a step that came amid escalating controversy raised by bloggers residing outside the country regarding what they described as ill-treatment to which their detained relatives were subjected.
The file raises controversy in Mauritania, especially after information was circulated by parties close to the authority indicating that the number of those included in the file exceeded 40 people, and that the funds being tracked exceeded 1.5 billion old ouguiyas, which is equivalent to 3.7 million dollars.
According to these sources, dozens of bank accounts and electronic wallets were frozen as part of the investigation, and officials in a number of local banks and figures in the public administration who were subjected to blackmail were also heard from.
A delegation from the National Human Rights Committee, led by the head of the committee, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Dahi, and accompanied by its Secretary-General, Mohamed Ould Ibrahim, said in a statement issued on Sunday that it visited the detainees and had a field review of their residence conditions.
The statement explained that the detainees “reside in appropriate and air-conditioned places, and receive good nutrition,” in addition to the availability of medicines and health care when needed, stressing that the delegation “did not notice any indications of their exposure to ill-treatment,” and did not receive any complaints in this regard during the visit. The committee pledged to continue monitoring the conditions of the detainees “with complete independence” in order to preserve their rights and dignity.
In a related context, a delegation from the National Observatory for Women and Girls’ Rights, headed by Fatima Muhammad Al-Amin Angian, visited last Saturday two women detained in the case, to learn about the circumstances of their arrest and the extent of respect for legal procedures.
According to the Observatory’s statement, the delegation listened to each of them separately, inspected the place of detention, and met with the team supervising him, which included a policewoman and a doctor. The Observatory recorded that the place of detention is “one of the usual places” and that “the basic needs for rest” are met, while the two detainees confirmed to the delegation that they were not subjected to any pressure or ill-treatment, and the supervising doctor also confirmed that their health condition was stable.
Despite this reassurance, the Observatory stressed “the necessity of respecting the legal deadlines for detention, and adhering to basic legal guarantees at all stages of research and investigation,” calling for guaranteeing the basic rights of detainees, including “contacting family and lawyers.”
The two visits come in the wake of an arrest campaign initiated by the police early this month, targeting relatives of several Mauritanian bloggers residing in Europe and the United States, including Abdelrahman Akmash and his sister, in addition to the owner of a money exchange agency in Nouakchott, against the backdrop of an investigation that the authorities describe as targeting suspicious financial transfers used in blackmail operations and spreading false news.
The authorities have not yet issued a detailed official clarification about the charges or the results of the investigation, while the Mauritanian government announced, last Wednesday, the arrest of six people during a security campaign to track down and dismantle a “financial extortion network,” in which it accused bloggers active on social media sites, most of whom reside abroad.
This campaign began with the arrest of members of the family of a blogger residing in the United States, called Sidi Ould Akmash, who has recently become famous for his positions opposing the authorities, but is accused of participating in a network that blackmails officials by publishing false news in exchange for obtaining money through intermediaries. The blogger denies the charges against him, and confirms that this campaign is due to his political positions on the ruling regime.
