Islamic leaders freed from jail after last week's coup in Mauritania said Wednesday they were wrongly branded as terrorists — and that the toppled president himself was responsible for any extremism in this overwhelmingly Muslim nation.
| It's that old definition of terrorism thing again... |
Experts also said U.S.-allied President Maaya Sid Ahmed Ould Taya's allegations that Islamic terrorists were at work in Mauritania were exaggerated, adding to widespread resentment that led to his downfall in an Aug. 3 military putsch. Taya, who seized power in a 1984 coup, had cracked down hard on political enemies for years, imprisoning dozens of politicians, soldiers and Islamic leaders. His toppling was celebrated in the streets of the capital.
African Union envoys who came here decrying the coup left on Wednesday convinced that most Mauritanians wanted the dictator out and expressing confidence the military junta would keep its promise to usher in democracy within two years. On Sunday, a judge in Nouakchott freed 21 prisoners jailed since April 25 on charges of plotting against the state. At least 50 others remain behind bars on similar charges. "The deposed regime accused all its opponents of extremism and terrorism," said Mohamed Hassan Ould Dedew, a prominent Islamic spiritual leader among those released. Those repressive tactics only radicalized extremists and risked producing "young terrorists ready to kill themselves," Dedew said.
"This change of regime came at a good time, because Mauritania needs moderate Islamists who want to participate in a democratic debate that banishes extremism and cultivates a culture of tolerance and openness," he said. While Mauritania has not seen suicide bombings, Taya's government accused some opponents of training with al-Qaida linked insurgents in neighboring Algeria. On June 4, a guerrilla raid on a remote army post in northern Mauritania left 15 soldiers and nine attackers dead. Algeria's Salafist Group for Call and Combat — on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations — purportedly claimed responsibility. Some of those jailed by Taya's regime were accused of setting up local terror networks who allegedly trained with the Salafists.
Moktar Ould Mohamed Moussa, another prominent Islamic-oriented politician who was freed Sunday, said he was not abused during his time in jail. But he said detainees accused of being Salafists "were savagely tortured and forced to admit relations with foreign jihadist organizations." Moussa, a former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, said Taya should be imprisoned for repressing "imams, religious scholars and preachers who never called for violence, and who've explained for years that Islam prohibits killing."
| That last sentence is why I ain't buyin' what they're trying to sell... |
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Dozens of Islamic leaders imprisoned in Mauritania launched a hunger strike on Saturday, demanding they be allowed to visit lawyers, doctors and family after more than a month behind bars, a lawyer for the group said. The men were arrested in late April by police who claimed they were part of a covert terror organization that had been sending members abroad to train with Algerian insurgents. They included Mohamed Hassan Ould Dedew, spiritual leader of many Islamic radicals in the desert nation. He was among two in the group who were reported ill and in need of medical care, said lawyer Mohamed Ahmed Ould Haj Sidi. Interior Ministry spokesman Sidi Yeslem Ould Amar Cheine denied Dedew was ill, however, saying ¢his health is being used as a pretext to change the normal course of justice."