MAURITANIA: FOUR MAURITANIANS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ATTACK AGAINST ARMY

March 20, 2011: four Mauritanian Islamists who were convicted of terrorism were sentenced to death by the criminal court in Nouakchott, PANA learnt from judicial sources. Abderrahmane Ould Arde, Mohamed Ould Abdou, Mohamed Ould, and Mohamed Ould Ahmed Chbih, also known as Abu Khaled Ould Mouslim, were convicted for their involvement in the 14 September 2008 terrorist attack against the Mauritanian army position in the town of Tourine, near Zouerate, located 600 km north of Nouakchott. Eleven Mauritanian soldiers and a civilian guide were killed in the attack.
It was the fifth death sentence passed on terrorists within a week in Mauritania.
Though the death penalty has not been abolished in Mauritania, no one has been executed in the country since December 1987. (Sources: Pana, 21/03/2011)