Mauritania: RSF calls on the authorities to send a clear signal against the intimidation of journalists
Mauritanian journalist Hanefi Ould Dahah was brutally assaulted for reporting on the management of a public contract by a businessman. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the authorities to ensure that the perpetrator of this unacceptable act of intimidation is brought to justice.
On January 26, Hanefi Ould Dahah, the director of the TTV television station, was violently assaulted outside his station's offices in Tevragh Zeina, in the western Nouakchott governorate. The attack was perpetrated by a businessman, shortly after the live broadcast of a program in which the journalist had mentioned information about the management of a public contract awarded to him. The assailant was taken into police custody on the night of the incident.
“This attack on a journalist for doing his job is intolerable. If the arrest of the assailant is a first step, it is imperative that this case does not remain without follow-up. We call on the Mauritanian authorities to bring the assailant to justice, in order to send a clear message that no attempt to intimidate journalists will be tolerated.
Hanefi Ould Dahah considers that “this attack goes beyond his person and is akin to an attempt to intimidate the press and the freedom to inform”. He calls for “justice to be done and for such violence not to become a means of silencing journalists”. Despite the attack, he reaffirms his determination to continue his work and expose the truth.
Mauritania ranks 33rd in RSF's 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
