http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4129670.stm
Last Updated: Sunday, 7 August 2005, 19:41 GMT 20:41 UK
Mauritanian Islamists are freed
By Pascale Harter
BBC News, Mauritania
The military council which overthrew the president of Mauritania
last week has begun releasing political prisoners held under the
ousted government.
Twenty-one men accused of Islamic extremism by the fallen regime of
Maaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya were released to cheering crowds on
Sunday.
On Saturday, the junta which has seized control assured political
parties none of its members will stand for office.
But it has appointed a member of the ousted government as prime
minister.
Blow to support
The decision to get long-standing politician Sidy Mohamed Ould
Boubacar to form a new government angered political parties - which
have generally supported the coup - as he had previously served
under Mr Taya.
The leader of the military coup, Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall has
promised elections within two years.
The release of members of Mauritania's popular Islamic movement was
greeted with celebrations on the streets of the capital, Nouakchott.
Around 1,000 Mauritanians waited on the sandbanks in the midday sun
to see the release of their spiritual leader from prison.
Political prisoners
Mohamed el Hassan Ould Dedaw, a former Imam from Nouakchott, was one
of 52 members of the movement to have been held for months without
trial.
The decision by the military council to release the Islamists, just
days after seizing power in a bloodless coup, is seen as
confirmation that they were in fact political prisoners.
Members of the Islamic movement say their leaders were imprisoned as
part of an attempt by the ousted president, Mr Taya, to crush all
opposition.
Under Mr Taya, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania became one of only
three members of the Arab League to establish diplomatic ties with
Israel.
The move was unpopular with the public, as was the presence of
American special forces in the vast desert country.
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