Rights body against extradiction of alleged coup plotter

The Dakar-based human rights group, Rencontre Africaine pour la defense des droits de l'homme (RADDHO), has asked the African Commission for Human Rights to stop a court order that a Mauritanian army Lieutenant Didi Oul M'hamed be extradicted home on suspicion of involvement in a coup attempt in that country. RADDHO secretary general, Alioune Tine, said they had sent a letter to the commission, arguing the extradition order should be blocked on account that Ould M'hamed's rights as a defendant were not respected when appeared before a judge in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, without a lawyer. RADDHO also said the officer, who fled the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott in the aftermath of the failed 8 June coup d'etat, was only arraigned on charges of attempted assassination and murder. The two charges, under Senegal's penal code, make it easy to facilitate an extradition especially in the absence of an extradition agreement between Mauritania and Senegal, RADDHO said. On 3 July, a Senegalese judge ruled that Ould M'hamed be extradited back to Mauritania. He had been arrested in mid-June in Senegalese town of Bakel from where he was subsequently transferred to the capital Dakar. RADDHO and another Senegalese rights group vehemently condemned the ruling. RADDHO wanted the order rescinded, saying extraditing M'hamed was synonymous to sending him to death. "Mauritania is reknown as a country where the practice of torture is proven and where human rights violations are common," Tine said on Thursday. Last week the organisation described the court's ruling as "extremely serious decision because it carries risks of torture that could lead to death." It castigated the Senegalese government for making itself a accomplice to a "death sentence". M'hamed was the first suspect to be arrested outside Mauritania, following the coup attempt. But other people were arrested in the country in a purge that followed the bloody coup. These included civilians among the ranks of the ruling party who were held for questioning. The head of the Supreme Court and the Mayor of Nouakchott lost their jobs.