Mauritania freely uses torture as repression tool: Amnesty

Mauritania freely uses torture as a method of investigation and repression and it has become more prevalent after a recent coup, Amnesty International has revealed.

"In Mauritania, the security apparatus has adopted torture as a system of investigation and repression," said a report from the rights watchdog after its officials visited the west African country in February and March and in July.

"It is deeply anchored in the culture of the security forces, which act with complete impunity. It is a scourge condoned by state authorities at the highest level," it said, adding that this had been going on for decades.

The Amnesty missions, in which members visited prisons and spoke with ex-detainees, occurred before a military junta took power in an August coup.

The coup deposed the country's first democratically-elected president, Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, hours after he issued a decree firing the military's top brass -- including the coup's leader, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

Amnesty said the "first free and transparent elections held in 2007" as well as a ban on torture had signaled Mauritania could change its treatment of prisoners.

"However, the recent coup in August 2008 and the strengthening of the fight against 'terrorism', which has led to the increased use of torture against those suspected of such acts, risk disappointing these slim hopes," it said.

The report cites "many examples of how the security forces have systematically used torture against individuals detained for offences under ordinary law and military personnel accused of recent attempted coups."

"The victims also include individuals suspected of links with Islamic groups accused of acts of terrorism."

Some of them were suspected members of Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa, which have claimed a string of deadly attacks in the region, according to Amnesty.

Types of torture include sleep deprivation, cigarette burns, the suspension of detainees from a metal bar, electric shocks and sexual violence, the report says.

Amnesty said testimony it had gathered indicated officers from neighbouring Morocco "participated in interrogations and torture, especially in investigations into acts of terrorism".

The report includes comments from a man arrested in May and kept in custody for 26 days before being released without charge.

"They tied my hands and feet behind my back and suspended me in the air for 10 to 15 minutes ...," he was quoted as saying.

"They asked me if I belonged to the Salafist Group (the Al-Qaeda branch) ... They hit me all over my body ... I finally confessed to everything they accused me of."