Four weeklies seized in one week, RSF says

Mauritania's authorities have this year seized seven weeklies, including four in the last week of August, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) said in a 31 August news release. The media watchdog called on the government of Colonel Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya to have the article under which the periodicals were seized repealed.

If the government continues to use Article 11 of the 25 July 1991 Edict-law on press freedom as it has in recent weeks, the future of the private press appears uncertain in Mauritania, it said. In 1998-1999, Mauritanian newspapers were seized 12 times and suffered seven suspensions of one to three months.

Article 11 allows the Interior Ministry to "forbid the circulation, distribution or sale of newspapers that undermine the principles of Islam or the credibility of the state, damage the general interest or disturb public order and security", RSF said. Subjects that lead to suspension include corruption, drugs, slavery, the Western Sahara situation, human rights, relations with Israel and Islamic militant networks, RSF said.