Government releases 41 Muslim activists

The Mauritanian government released 41 Muslim clerics and political activists from prison on Monday, but kept charges of anti-state activities hanging over them.

They had been detained over the past four months on suspiscion of fanning religious extremism and opposition to the government of President Maaouiya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya.

The Muslim activists were freed as political parties are gearing up for presidential elections in this desert state of 2.5 million people on November 7.

Taya faces a strong challenge from former president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla, who he deposed in a coup 19 years ago. Ould Haidalla has received strong support from the Islamic religious community.

The freeing of the Muslim activists was preceded on Sunday by the release of Chbih Ould Cheikh Melainine, Mauritania's longest serving political prisoner.

He challenged Taya in the 1997 presidential election, but had been in jail since April 2001 in the eastern town of Aioun near the Malian border and was suffering from poor health.

Cheikh Melainine led the now banned Popular Front opposition party. He was sentenced to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism and sabotage at a trial which was dubbed by local and international human rights activists as a farce.

State Prosecutor Mohamed Abderramane Ould Abdi ordered the conditional release of the Islamic activitists from the main prison in the capital Nouakchott.

But the detainees initially refused to leave, saying the charges against them should be dropped immediately or they should be sent for trial.

Eventually they were forcibly evicted from the jail after a three-hour tussle with prison guards.

The Muslim activists were welcomed by hundreds of cheering supporters. Police prevented the crowd from marching immediately to the supreme court to demand that charges them be dropped.

Taya accused Muslim extremists of backing a coup attempt on June 8 which led to two days of heavy fighting in the capital. He had launched a crackdown on Islamic activists a month earlier.