Mauritania’s Attorney General issued an arrest warrant on Wednesday, June 4, 2003, against Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Seyidi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ERRAYA weekly newspaper.
No official reason has been given for this action which, however, comes barely a week after the Ministry of Interior, Posts and Telecommunications banned the newspaper on May 29 for “subversion and intolerance.” The editor-in chief of the paper, Ahmedou Ould Wediaa, who had declared an intention to appeal the ban, has also not been seen since May 30, 2003.
