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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000438 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR EAID KPAO MR
SUBJECT: REPORT OF JOURNALIST ARREST ERRONEOUS 
 
REF: A. 05 NOUAKCHOTT 1071 
     ¶B. 05 NOUAKCHOTT 904 
     ¶C. 05 NOUAKCHOTT 440 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000438  001.9 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Amb. Joseph LeBaron, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) 
 
-------------- 
(C) Key Points 
-------------- 
 
-- According to recent (and erroneous) media reports, 
Mauritanian police arrested a Mauritanian journalist earlier 
this week.  The report is not true. 
 
-- We were able to track down the journalist, Abdallah 
Mimine, a correspondent who reports for Al-Alam, Iran's 
popular Arabic-language satellite news channel. 
 
-- Mimine told us he was only questioned, not arrested. 
Police asked him to hand over the videotape of his interview 
with the head of an organization protesting the continuing 
detention of more than a dozen Mauritanians charged with 
terrorism (reftels).  He refused, and was soon thereafter 
released. 
 
------------ 
(C) Comments 
------------ 
 
-- The media might have gotten this one wrong, but other 
journalists have been detained here in recent months.  Some 
journalists claim harassment by the police is common. 
 
-- On the whole, there is greater media freedom here than 
before the coup last August.  But Mauritania still has a long 
way to go before it meets international standards for freedom 
of speech. 
 
End Key Points and Comments. 
 
¶1. (U) On April 9 the local online Arabic newspaper Al-Akhbar 
reported the arrest of Abdallah Mimine, a Mauritanian news 
correspondent who covers West Africa for the Iranian 
Arabic-language satellite news channel, Al-Alam.  Al-Alam is 
a popular satellite channel here. 
 
¶2. (U) According to the Al-Akhbar report, which was picked up 
by some international media outlets, Mimine was arrested 
while interviewing at a local hotel the spokesperson for the 
Association of Families of Islamist Detainees, Leila Bint 
Ghaouth. 
 
¶3. (C) Mimine told the Embassy April 12 that he was not 
arrested, but rather questioned by the police.  Mimine said 
he, Ghaouth, and four of the guards at the hotel were asked 
to follow the police to a local police station in Mimine's 
car.  Once arriving, the four guards were immediately 
released, while Mimine and Ghaouth were questioned by the 
police about the content of their interview.  According to 
Mimine, he refused the police's request to hand over his 
videotape of the interview.  Both Mimine and Ghaouth were 
released not long after that.  The incident lasted 
approximately three hours. 
 
¶4. (C) Following the questioning, Mimine said that he called 
the Minister of Interior, Post and Telecommunications Ould 
Mohamed Lemine Mohamed Ahmed, who he said he knew personally. 
 According to Mimine, Ahmed apologized for the police's 
behavior and promised that he would personally investigate 
the matter and assured Mimine that it would never happen 
again. 
 
¶5. (U) According to Mimine, the incident occurred after hotel 
guards complained to the police that a journalist was 
conducting an interview on hotel property without hotel 
permission.  "The hotel was nervous about having their 
building as the backdrop in my interview, and was angry that 
I had parked my car in their parking lot without permission." 
 
¶6. (C) The incident follows the release last week of the 
government's report on press reform and liberalization, and a 
subsequent dinner hosted by Colonel Fal April 7 for more than 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000438  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
25 journalists to celebrate the report's release and the move 
towards greater press freedom in Mauritania.  However, the 
report was also criticized April 10 in a gathering of some 50 
lesser-known journalists and "Peshmerga" (self-styled 
journalists) who claimed the report was not marked by 
"justice or objectivity," and would not lead to greater press 
freedom. 
 
¶7. (C) Embassy understands that Mimine reportedly brokered a 
meeting between Fal and the Iranian president during the 
recent Arab League Summit in Khartoum. Mimine is a former 
reporter for Mauritanian TV and considered to be an 
influential journalist here. 
 
¶8. (C)  We do not know the content of the report that Mimine 
was preparing on the jailed Mauritanians, but other media 
outlets have charged that the United States is behind the 
their continued detention.  The 21 Mauritanians have been 
charged with membership and participation in a terrorist 
group, plotting terrorist attacks both inside and outside of 
Mauritania, and recruiting terrorists for such attacks 
(reftels).  Their cases are currently pending with the 
Supreme Court. 
LeBaron