Lawyers pull out of trial of opposition leader

Lawyers representing Mauritanian opposition leader Mohamed Lemine ould Cheikh Melaïnine, decided on Tuesday to withdraw from the case in protest against what they said was the lack of respect for the law and legal ethics, news organisations reported. They said in a communique that their decision had been taken in agreement with Melainine, who ran for president in the last election, and two others accused along with the Front populaire (FP) leader of “criminal conspiracy” to commit acts of terrorism and sabotage in collusion with Libya. The three men have been in detention since their arrest on 8 April. They were recently transferred from Nouakchott to Aioun, about 800 km southeast of the capital, after the Supreme Court granted a request to that effect made by the prosecution. The lawyers said the court’s decision, taken in the absence of the defendants and their lawyers, violated the country’s penal code. The case has been adjourned to 27 May. NIGER: Perpetrators of FGM to be jailed Niger’s criminal code has been amended to include penalties ranging from six months to three years for perpetrators of female genital mutilation (FGM), and of 10 to 20 years if such an operation results in death, PANA reported. The revised code also stipulates that the maximum penalties are to be applied if the perpetrator is a member of the medical or paramedical profession. Formerly the law did not punish practitioners of FGM, which is still widely practiced in Niger and parts of West Africa. FGM is the excision of the clitoris and, in some cases, the labia.