Mauritania kidnapping: 7 charged
2010-03-15 21:16
Nouakchott - A Mauritanian court on Monday charged seven people in connection with the kidnapping of three Spaniards in November, two of which are still held by al-Qaeda militants, a judicial source said.
"The court charged seven people of which five have been jailed and two placed under judicial control, for involvement in the kidnapping of the Spanish aid workers," the judicial source told AFP.
He said eleven other suspects had been freed.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on Wednesday freed one of the three hostages Alicia Gamez, 39, after three months in captivity in the northern desert of Mali.
The kidnappers still have the other two Spanish hostages as well as an Italian couple kidnapped in Mauritania in December.
Among the seven accused, three are being prosecuted for "participating in a crime concerning an attack on the life and security of people, as well as their kidnapping and illegal detainment".
Hostages may have been 'sold'
Two others were charged for "offering shelter to, and preventing the arrest of terrorists" and two others for "providing food" to the kidnappers.
The main accused is 52-year-old Amar Ould Sid'Ahmed, alias Amar As-Sahraouiet, arrested in mid-February by a Mauritanian "commando" in Mali.
He was suspected of having given logistical assistance to the kidnappers but also taking part himself in the kidnapping of the Spaniards and taking them to the AQIM base in northern Mali.
It is not certain whether he is a member of AQIM or whether he had only "sold" the hostages to the organisation.