While Mauritania is taking steps to increase press freedom, some journalists are concerned that the new media law still infringes on their rights.
A ground-breaking law in Mauritania eliminates prison terms for the majority of press offences.
"This decision is an important step toward freedom of press," said Ahmed Ould Moulay Mhamed, chairman of the Union of Professional Journalists of Independent Press. "It should have been taken long ago, given that we can't talk about democracy while journalists are still being incarcerated."
The law was passed by the ministerial council on June 22nd and abolished most prison terms for journalists but maintains fines and exceptions for imprisonment in the case of some felonies. Ould Moulay Mhamed said that the legislation was insufficient and more financial support was needed to shore up independent media.
Meanwhile, the Association of Mauritanian Journalists lauded the new act, saying it was a "conciliatory move with the spirit of liberalism that respects more the special nature of freedom of the press, and that is more in harmony with the needs of more free spaces".
Journalist Salem Ould Mohamed Salem, however, didn't expect the new act to change anything. "There is no point in talking about abolishment of imprisonment against journalists while journalists, in their line of work, are still suffering abuse from security forces that publicly humiliate them before the passers-by, and torture them in precincts, without any reactions from the government," he said.
"There are a lot of taboos that challenge the freedom of press in Mauritania, such as matters related to the army, to different ethnic groups, and to corruptions at the top of the state. It is prohibited to write about all those matters," Ould Mohamed Salem said.
Press freedom in Mauritania has gone through several phases, according to jurist Mohamed Yehdhih Ould Babe Ahmed. "The constitution of July 20th 1991, under President Ould Tayaa, marked the first acquisition of this right. Nonetheless, freedom of the press remained tight due to the very ambiguous article 11 of the Freedom of Press Act, and due to guardianship of the ministry of interior which kept using confiscation as a tool to threaten journalists," he explained.
He said the latest press law was "an important step that is in accordance with the liberalism spirit". Ould Babe Ahmed noted that the new act decriminalised criticism of the president, of foreign leaders and of diplomats based in Mauritania. But he said that Article 36 of the law allowed fines for "intentionally publishing wrong information that could spread chaos and disturb the discipline of the armed forces".
"Who is authorised to decide if the wrong information was in good faith or intentional?" he wondered. "Who has such a power to assess?"
Journalist Taleb Ould Mohamed Lemine said that what concerns most journalists were the heavy fines and confiscation of property, saying that "most of the journalists in Mauritania are already living in poverty".
"Keeping those restrictions means keeping restrictions on the freedom of press," Ould Mohamed Lemine said, adding that some "articles of the press act are very generalising as well as flexible. The articles can be easily construed to penalise any journalist, at any time."
© Magharebia.com 2011
