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MAURITANIA: Jailing of opposition figure condemned

ABIDJAN, 15 June (IRIN) - Opposition parties in Mauritania and human rights groups condemned on Thursday the five-year prison term handed down to the leader of the opposition Front populaire party, Chbih Cheikh Ould Malainine. The Criminal Court in Aioun, 800 km east of the capital, Nouakchott, sentenced Malainine and two others on Thursday for plotting to overthrow the government, media organizations reported.

They were arrested early April and accused of preparing acts of sabotage and terrorism, AFP reported. "This trial was everything but fair", Alioune Tine, national executive secretary of the Dakar-based rights organization, RADDHO, told IRIN on Friday. He said that Malainine's arrest and detention violated proper legal procedure. RADDHO, he said, would call on African countries, the African Commission for Human and People's Rights and the international community to condemn the ruling which he said posed "a threat to democracy in Mauritania".

He said the ruling illustrated the government's pattern of violating of individual rights. Relations between the government and the opposition have been strained since late 2000 when several opposition leaders and supporters were arrested. In December, a presidential decree dissolved the opposition party Union des forces democratiques-Ere nouvelle.

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