Mauritania: Thirteen people convicted of terrorism subjected to enforced disappearance

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT 23 June 2011 AI Index: AFR 38/002/2011 Mauritania: Thirteen people convicted of terrorism subjected to enforced disappearance It is now a month since thirteen people convicted of terrorism “disappeared” after being transferred from the civilian prison in Nouakchott (the capital) to an unknown location. [...] Amnesty International is concerned about what may become of them and is asking the Mauritanian authorities to reveal where the detainees are. [...] The state of health of some of them requires ongoing medical supervision and Amnesty International fears that they may not have access to appropriate medical care in their new place of detention. [...] One month after their disappearance and despite repeated requests, the families of the prisoners have still not been told where their loved ones have been taken or the reasons for the transfer. [...] At the beginning of June 2011, Amnesty International, which had met most of these prisoners during its last mission to Mauritania in September 2010, wrote to the Mauritanian authorities asking to be informed of what has happened to these people and where they are being held.