The Mauritanian Journalists’ Union condemns in the strongest terms the physical assault on our colleague Mohamed El Amine Abdouti, a journalist with Alakhbar news agency, by members of the national police while he was carrying out his professional duties, despite having presented his professional press card confirming his status as a journalist.
The Union considers that the violent physical assault on our colleague, accompanied by offensive and demeaning remarks about journalism and its practitioners, constitutes a serious and flagrant violation of the freedom to carry out journalistic work and of journalists’ dignity. It also undermines the standing that the press should enjoy as a profession recognised by the Constitution, with an essential role in conveying information and serving society.
The Union expresses its profound indignation that this incident took place in the presence of the duty officer at the scene. The officer retained our colleague’s phone, which was not returned to him until several police officers intervened in an effort to calm the situation, even though some members of the security force present at the scene knew the journalist.
The Union believes that the seriousness of the incident extends beyond the physical assault and accompanying verbal abuse to the circumstances surrounding it. These circumstances raise questions about the treatment of journalists while they perform their professional duties, and about respect for the safeguards intended to protect them and enable them to work freely and safely.
Accordingly, the Mauritanian Journalists’ Union calls on the competent authorities to open an urgent and serious investigation into the circumstances of the assault, establish responsibility and hold accountable anyone whose involvement is proven. It also calls for the necessary measures to prevent such practices from recurring and to ensure that those responsible do not escape accountability.
The Union also calls on the security authorities to take measures that ensure journalists are treated with respect and are able to carry out their professional duties. It asks them to remind all police personnel of the need to deal with journalists in accordance with the law, respect their professional press cards, and refrain from obstructing their work or targeting them because they are practising their profession.
The Union stresses that journalists’ dignity and their right to carry out their work without assault or intimidation are not personal privileges, but fundamental safeguards for press freedom and society’s right of access to information. Any infringement of these safeguards constitutes an attack on those rights and freedoms.
Nouakchott, 5 November 2026.