VZCZCXRO7618
PP RUEHPA RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNK #0075/01 0361313
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 051313Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9079
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000075 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2020 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM PGOV MR
SUBJECT: ONLINE JOURNALIST HANEVY OULD DEHAH RE-SENTENCED 
TO TWO YEARS IMPRISONMENT 
 
REF: A. 10 NOUAKCHOTT 41 
     ¶B. 09NOUAKCHOTT 549 
     ¶C. 10 NOUAKCHOTT 73 
     ¶D. 10 NOUAKCHOTT 14 
     ¶E. 9 NOUAKCHOTT 823 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Mark Boulware for Reasons 1.4 (b and d) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary:  On February 4,  Taqadoumy Website Editor 
Hanevy Ould Dehah was re-sentenced to two years imprisonment. 
 This was Dehah's second trial after authorities decided to 
keep him detained despite his having served his first 
six-month sentence, and to annul his first trial.  Both 
Hanevy's lawyers and the Mauritanian National Bar Association 
(ONA) have denounced serious irregularities in due process 
including Hanevy's arbitrary detention since December 24, 
2009, the date he completed his original sentence, and the 
decision to hold a second trial despite an ongoing appeals of 
the Supreme Court's overturn of the first trial.  Lawyers 
plan to pursue this first appeal as well as appealing the 
second sentence with the Supreme Court.  Nevertheless, they 
are aware this process will be long and understandably doubt 
the justice system's impartiality.  Public statements calling 
for Hanevy's release have been numerous, including one from 
President Aziz's own party Union Pour la Republique (UPR).  A 
public statement from Washington calling for the GIRM to 
observe due process would be helpful in raising this case's 
profile and persuading the government to back down while it 
still can.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C)  To Hanevy's lawyers' surprise, Hanevy's second trial 
started on February 1.  Moktar Ould Moktar, one of the 
lawyers, told PolOff on February 5 that this second trial was 
illegal because lawyers had appealed the Supreme Court's 
decision to annul the first trial on the grounds that due 
process was not respected.  In fact, the Supreme Court made 
its decision before the legal deadline for lawyers to present 
their arguments and without Hanevy being represented, which 
is required by Mauritanian law (Ref A).  A second trial 
should not have taken place until the appeal was resolved, 
said Ould Moktar.  Furthermore, according to lawyers the 
legal process calls for Hanevy's release after his six-month 
sentence, and for the issuance of an arrest warrant leading 
to his re-arrest and placement on preventive detention. 
Without an arrest warrant, Hanevy's detention is arbitrary 
and in violation of the law. 
 
¶3.  (C)  At this second trial, accusations against Hanevy 
were identical to the initial ones, including those that had 
been dismissed in the first trial, such as inciting rebellion 
and defamation (Ref B).  The public prosecutor requested five 
years imprisonment and a 50 million UM fine (USD $185,000). 
Hanevy was found guilty, once more, of acts contrary to Islam 
as well as inciting rebellion and sentenced to two years 
imprisonment.  As in the first trial, the judges based their 
decision on comments by a female website user calling for 
increased sexual freedom in Mauritania.  Ould Moktar stated 
lawyers have 15 days to appeal this sentence from the day the 
sentence was pronounced.  Nevertheless, the appeal process 
will not start until the written sentence is received, which 
may take some time.  Lawyers plan to pursue the appeal of the 
Supreme Court's decision to annul and an appeal of the second 
trial's sentence. 
 
¶4.  (C)  The authorities moved ahead with the trial despite 
Ambassador's repeated demarches to the Minister of Justice, 
Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, calling for 
respect of the law and due process (Refs C,D,E).    PolOff 
also met with Human Rights Commissioner to persuade the 
government to issue an official declaration explaining 
Hanevy's situation but the statement was never released. 
Comment: A joint demarche planned by the Spanish Embassy in 
conjunction with other European missions and the U.S. never 
took place because the Spaniards were waiting for clearance 
from Madrid.  End comment. 
 
¶5.  (C)  Hanevy's case has shaken public opinion in 
Mauritania and internationally.  In January, Reporters 
Without Borders described the authorities' refusal to release 
him as "totally unacceptable and scandalous."  Hanevy's 
hunger strike, which ended in mid-January after imams pleaded 
with him to stop, was highly publicized in the Arab press. 
U.S. media has also reported on the case through a February 2 
Wall Street Journal editorial entitled "An Ex-Islamist Needs 
U.S. Support," which describes Hanevy as someone who could 
have become a radical Islamist but chose instead to become an 
activist for democracy.  The article challenges the U.S. 
government, "if it is sincere in its support for democratic 
reform", to "publicly demand the immediate release of Hanevy 
Ould Dehah."  Another article entitled "Sex, Obama, and a 
Mauritanian Dissident," appeared in the Huffington Post on 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000075  002 OF 002 
 
 
December 31 denouncing U.S. Embassy and State Department 
public silence in the face of Hanevy's plight despite 
President Obama's Cairo speech making a commitment to 
supporting reform in the Arab World.  Mauritanian opposition 
parties, labor unions, the Mauritanian National Bar 
Association, the Mauritanian Journalist Association as well 
as President Aziz's own party Union Pour la Republique (UPR), 
have publicly called for Hanevy's liberation. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Rumor has it that President Aziz himself is behind 
Hanevy's imprisonment and the government's unwillingness to 
back down on this issue.  Comment:  Many Mauritanians believe 
that Hanevy is in possession of recordings that were found on 
a computer stolen from Aziz by his own son and sold for cash 
in Las Palmas.  Some of these recordings, featuring 
conversations between high-level military and deposed 
President Abdallahi during Abdallahi's imprisonment following 
the coup, were released by Taqadoumy during the coup period. 
Hanevy's imprisonment would be a personal vengeance as well 
as a way of preventing further indiscretions.  End comment. 
PolOff raised Hanevy's case with President of the Imam 
Association Hamden Ould Tah and attempted to gather support 
from imams to intercede with the President.  Tah candidly 
responded that Hanevy's problem was a "tribal and a personal 
issue" and that if the U.S. wanted to do something for 
Hanevy, the only recourse would be for the Ambassador to 
intervene with President Aziz himself. 
 
¶7.  (C)  Comment:  Given the authorities' continued disregard 
for the Ambassador's private calls to respect the rule of 
law, Post recommends the Department calls on the GIRM to 
respect due process in the case in order to reaffirm its 
support for the rule of law and freedom of expression.  End 
comment. 
BOULWARE