PRESS CRACKDOWN: JOURNALIST ARRESTED, WEBSITE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NOUAKCHOTT 000211

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2019
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV MR
SUBJECT: PRESS CRACKDOWN: JOURNALIST ARRESTED, WEBSITE
BLOCKED, PROTESTERS TEARGASSED

REF: A. 2008 NOUAKCHOTT 759

B. 2008 NOUAKCHOTT 758

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Dennis Hankins for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).


1. (C) Summary: On the night of March 15th, Mauritanian
police arrested Abbass Ould Braham, University English
Teacher and editor of the tri-lingual on-line newspaper
Taquadoumy while he sat in a restaurant among friends. On
March 16th, General Prosecutor Seyid Ould Ghaliani ordered
Mauritania's two main internet providers, Chinguitel and
Mauritel to block the Taquadoumy website. Later that day, a
peaceful sit-in protest in support of Abbass was dispersed
with tear gas. This first case in recent history of
Mauritanian authorities blocking access to a Mauritanian news
website does not portend well for the future of civil
liberties until the slated junta-sponsored June elections.
This case in a milieu of severely eroding press liberties
since the August 6th coup, shows just how jumpy and nervous
coup leaders are on the eve of elections (REF A and B).
International and domestic protest forced the regime to
release Ould Braham on March 18 and unblock the website.

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Coup Critique
--------------


2. (U) Taqadoumy is among Mauritania's most-popular
internet news sources; purported by some to be the number one
most visited and best quality site. According to an
interview with the editor Abbass in February 2009 the Arabic
site has 27,000 hits a day, next only to rivals Akhbar and
Sahara. Taquadoumy also has a French site boasting 6,000
hits a day and an English site visited 600 times per day.
Last week, Abbass authored and posted a series of articles
under the Arabic title: "Deep Into Mauritania: A Study of the
New Mauritanian Political Regime." These and other articles
he published recently have been critical of General Aziz,
certain military units and commanders.

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Junta's Justification
--------------


3. (SBU) During a press conference and in a circulated
press statement Mauritania's General Prosecutor attributed
Abbass' arrest to defamation and intent to destabilize the
country. (Comment: There has been much discussion in local
and international press about the junta's desire to close all
websites hostile to the regime, and their payment to certain
websites, notably CRIDEM, for publishing pro-coup
propaganda).


4. (U) The day after the departure of Libyan mediator
Colonel Gadhafi on March 12th 2009, the Minister of
Communication and Parliamentary Relations, El Kory Ould Abdel
Mola, peppered a press conference with veiled threats to all
of those jeopardizing national security and stability.
Intoning that the 'rectification movement" was carried out
precisely to protect liberty, honesty and transparency, he
said that the HCE (military junta) would fight to protect a
secure environment that reinforces individual and collective
liberties. In the conference he noted ominously that "no one
would destabilize the country."

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Not the first time
--------------


5. (C) In November 2008, two anti-coup Mauritanian
websites, Anbaa and Sahara media were hacked for publishing
information deemed defamatory to the junta (REF B). Like
many other journalists, during a meeting with PAO on February
5th, Abbass claimed to receive frequent telephone threats
that he stop writing articles against the coup, and that if
he continued the website would be hacked. In a private
meeting with Abbass, he said that in December 2008, he
published an article on a drunken driving accident of coup

NOUAKCHOTT 00000211 002 OF 003


leader General Aziz's son. Shortly after he received an
anonymous phone call ordering him to remove the article and
he complied.

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Solidarity with Abbass
--------------


6. (U) In protest of his arrest, journalists and political
party leaders assembled in front of the United Nations
headquarters in Nouakchott on the afternoon of March 16th.
Minutes later, the crowd of approximately 50 was dispersed
with teargas. (Comment: The protest was covered widely in
national French and Arabic sources as well as Al-Jazeerah
international news on March 16th). Those who assembled to
support Abbass included fellow journalists and several
anti-coup coalition FNDD party spokesmen. Within hours of
his arrest, Abbass supporters set-up a Facebook group,
entitled "Free Abbass Braham." The group has a photograph of
Abbass with vertical black lines representing bars marring
the portrait and is emblazoned with the English "Free
Abbass." In less than two days, this Facebook group
attracted over 280 members. Abbass supporters are also said
to have created alternate methods of accessing the Taqadoumy
site, much like Sahara media during its November 2008 hacking
(REF B).

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Conditions of Arrest
--------------


7. (C) Post initially received information on March 17th
through journalists that Abbass had not eaten since his
arrest and was being kept in spartan conditions in the Ksar 2
prison. (Comment: Mauritanian law enforcement does not
commonly provide food or comforts of any sort). On March 18th
Post received word that Abbass had called his mother the
evening prior and informed her that he is being well treated,
has a television and paper on which to write.

-------------- ---
Junta's Response; Abdallahi's Democratic Riposte
-------------- ---


8. (U) On the afternoon of March 17th 2009, Counselor to the
President, Mohamed Ould Abdarrahame Ould Moine held a press
conference hailing the Libyan mediation and calling on all
Mauritanian political partners to stop hostile press
campaigns. In response to a question on Abbass' arrest,
Moine labeled it "regrettable" but explained that the
blocking was a "judicial decision" that would be examined,
and reiterated his commitment to enforcing "public
liberties." Concerning the teargas used to disperse Abbass
supporters the day before, he urged protesters to "respect
laws and regulations for demonstrating." To counter this, in
a press release later that day, President Abdallahi's
spokesman firmly condemned the actions of the junta and threw
his full support behind freedom of the press, "an essential
pillar of democracy that the putchists are trying to
destroy." He called on all "democratic forces to come
together to preserve the liberties that had been gained
during the democratic era."

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Free at last?
--------------


9. (C) Local sources confirm that they communicated with the
junta their intention to stage another sit in, at mid-day on
March 18th. As this would coincide with the weekly
Ministerial meeting, they were urged by the Minister of
Communication not to hold the gathering, and were told that
the Minister was doing everything he could to free Abbass.
In addition, local staff relayed rumors that General Aziz has
promised to unblock the Taquadoumy site. With these carrots
in the pocket, journalists are said to have called off the
protest. Comment: This reaction could be a deja-vu fear of
the December 2008 chaotic anti-Gaza protests which quickly
became out of the junta's control. At first evidence of

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public support the protests soon became a thorn in the
junta's side.


10. (SBU) Abbass was reportedly released the afternoon of
March 18 as promised and the two main internet providers have
reportedly been instructed to unblock the Taqadoumy website.

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COMMENT
--------------


11. (C) Abbass' arrest was not be long or violent but was
likely designed to send a message to journalists and the FNDD
leadership. This message is that anti-coup rhetoric will not
be tolerated in advance of June elections. The hope is that
journalists will remain quiescent in coming next weeks and
allow the farce of democratic elections unfold without too
much noise. Abbass is likely seen as a puppet at the hands of
a larger more powerful lobby; his arrest was a means to find
real source behind his articles. (Note: Taqadoumy is
affiliated with the Conscience and Resistance socialist
movement purportedly sustained by French backing.) Another
element at play is the generational clash between a savvier
web youth culture, prone to blogging and facebooking their
political woes, and an elder political elite tied to
traditional means of communication and impervious to change.
This series of incidents does not bode well for the future of
press liberty in the weeks leading up to the election. Last
week's visit from Libyan mediator Colonel Qadhafi breathed
fresh air and inspired hope in a busy press corps. This
week's events, in the wake of his departure, led to a sharp
let down in an already downtrodden press corps. Without
Libyan mediation efforts to buoy them, and with an increased
crackdown on websites and journalists, the situation could
escalate.


12. (C) The use of cyber-media such as Taqadoumy has been a
significant factor in the post-coup environment. Despite the
regime's near iron control on the official radio and
television outlets, Taqadoumy, CRIDEM and other web-sites get
the word out quickly (if not always accurately). The written
press has remained remarkably free following the coup but it
only reaches a small elite element of Mauritanian society.
The regime has some tech-savvy adherents, but generally
thinks in old-style PRAVDA-like control of media and events.
The cyber-media is tough for them to control.
HANKINS