On Wednesday evening, the Mauritanian government announced the arrest of six people during a security campaign to track down and dismantle a “financial blackmail network,” in which it accused bloggers who are active on social media sites, most of whom reside abroad.
This campaign began three days ago 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, indicating that targeting his relatives will not change those positions.
In the first official comment on the matter, the Minister of Culture and government spokesman, Hussein Ould Madou, said that during the past few days, the security authorities launched “a campaign to dismantle a financial extortion network and trace its leads. So far, they have been able to arrest six people, and the number is expected to rise as the search progresses and deepens.”
He added: “This network has turned into an industry, with its own mechanisms and tools, and it is used to manufacture, publish and distribute false and fake news,” and to delve into people’s honor “for material or malicious purposes, to buy silence... and to abuse the public space of discussion.”
During a press conference on Wednesday evening, Ould Madou accused this network of “attacking people’s individual sanctities,” stressing that “it is the state’s duty to confront this industry, its financing mechanisms, and the blackmail mechanisms that are practiced in it, whether buying silence, manufacturing fake news, or anything else.”
He stressed that “there is absolutely no tolerance for any financing of blackmail, or any violation of the sanctity of individuals protected by law and Sharia.”
He also emphasized ensuring credibility and transparency, saying: “There is absolutely no fear for anyone who the investigation proves is innocent of these operations. What is happening now is investigation and investigation, and it will be done according to the highest levels of credibility and transparency.”
He said: “The goal is to track the stations through which the funds pass, in order to reach the beneficiaries or participants in blackmail and defamation campaigns.”
The debate has heated up among Mauritanians on social media, with supporters of the security campaign accusing these bloggers of targeting the private lives of officials and spreading false news, and others who refuse to target activists on social media and believe that they are trying to expose corruption.
The Egyptian Ministry of Interior accused 6 journalists it arrested on Wednesday of belonging to the “Brotherhood” group, which is classified as a terrorist group in Egypt, after union demands for their release.
The ministry said, in a statement on Thursday, that it “detected the existence of a page on the Internet entitled (Don’t Believe) that is unlicensed and managed from abroad, dealing with the broadcast of false news and distortion of facts, and that investigations revealed that it is among the media committees affiliated with the terrorist Brotherhood.”
The security services explained that “the network is run by the fugitive Brotherhood member abroad, Abd al-Rahman Shukri Abd al-Jalil Mansour, and he is aided inside the country by a number of Brotherhood members who prepare false and fabricated news and send it to the aforementioned person to publish it through the aforementioned platform in exchange for financial funds they receive from abroad.”
The Ministry of Interior indicated that “after codifying the procedures, 6 members of the committee were arrested, and it was found that one of them was a member of the Journalists Syndicate, and the rest were not registered with the Syndicate.” According to the statement, “The head of the Journalists Syndicate was informed about the arrest of the aforementioned journalist and the backgrounds and circumstances that led to his arrest. They were also referred to the Public Prosecution for investigation.”
The “Mtsadeqsh” platform, which is concerned with verifying data and news sources, confirmed that the six journalists who were arrested “represent the entire editorial team in the newsroom.”
On Wednesday, the Journalists Syndicate announced that it had filed a complaint with the Ministry of Interior and a report with the Attorney General, demanding the release of the six journalists working on the “Mtsadeqesh” platform, revealing the circumstances and reasons for their arrest, and specifying their places of detention.
The union said, in a report submitted by the head of the Journalists Syndicate, Khaled El-Balshi, that it had received complaints from lawyers and colleagues about the arrest of 6 journalists on the “Don’t Believe” platform, one of whom holds membership in the union. She confirmed that “the six colleagues Abdullah Qadri, Muhammad Sharaf, Muhammad Adel, Islam Barakat, Muhammad Mahmoud, and Omar Hidaya were arrested during the past two days from their homes.”
The union confirmed that it is making “relentless efforts around the clock to release the six colleagues on its guarantee, with its full pledge to appear before any investigations if any accusations are brought against them.”
On Tuesday evening, the Criminal Chamber of the Mauritanian Supreme Court issued a final decision rejecting the appeal submitted by parliamentarians Maryam Sheikh Jenk and Qamo Ashour Salem, and upholding the appeal ruling depriving them of civil and political rights for 5 years, in a development that opens the door to officially declaring their seats in parliament vacant.
The two deputies belong to the “Ira” human rights movement, and entered parliament through the “Al-Sawab” party, which has Baathist nationalist tendencies. The case goes back to last April, following a live broadcast on the social networking site “Facebook,” during which the two parliamentarians criticized President Mohamed Ould Sheikh Al-Ghazouani, in statements that the Public Prosecution considered included an attack on national symbols, an insult to the President of the Republic, and incitement to violence.
The two parliamentarians were arrested under a case of “flagrante delicto,” which allows parliamentary immunity to be exceeded exceptionally. In May, the Western Nouakchott Court issued a ruling to imprison them for 4 effective years, which the Court of Appeal reduced in July to two years, with the addition of deprivation of political rights for 5 years, which is the part that directly affects their parliamentary membership.
After the Court of Appeal’s decision was issued, President Ould Ghazouani issued a presidential pardon that waived the prison sentence, but excluded the deprivation of political and civil rights, while the Constitutional Council subsequently issued a decision stating that it was not possible to confirm that the two deputies had lost their parliamentary status at that stage.
The Council based its decision on the fact that the ruling of the Court of Appeal, issued at that time, had not yet become final because it was still subject to appeal before the Supreme Court. Consequently, the two parliamentarians returned to Parliament temporarily after the guards had prevented them from entering earlier. However, this return was not without additional tension, as Parliament later imposed disciplinary sanctions against them, including temporary expulsion, following a sit-in they organized inside the building.
Today, the deprivation ruling has become final by the decision of the Supreme Court, as it is expected that the procedures for their exit from Parliament will begin to be replaced by others from the same party.
The court's decision sparked an intense political controversy, as the Al-Sawab Party, in a statement, criticized the Supreme Court's decision, considering that it falls within the "policy of silencing the voices of opponents" and restricting parliamentarians, citing Article 50 of the Constitution, which prohibits the prosecution of any representative because of his opinion or vote while performing his duties.
The party described the timing of the decision as coming in a “delicate political circumstance,” noting that the infringement on the freedom of the two representatives extends to “citizens’ right to representation” within Parliament.
This controversy is renewed, at a time when the political parties are preparing to organize a comprehensive national dialogue, called for by Ould Ghazouani, with the aim of reaching a political agreement that leads to agreed-upon reforms.
