Al-Houriya (ar|الحرية, meaning Freedom) is a weekly Arabic language newspaper in Mauritania. The director of the newspaper is Mohamed Nema Oumar.[1]
On 12 June 2008, Mohamed Nema Oumar, managing editor of Al-Houriya, was arrested by the Mauritanian police after he published an article on Senator El Had and his activities in Israel.[2] Oumar was arrested at the airport on his way back from Libya where he accompanied the Mauritanian President with an accredited press badge.[3] Mohamed Nema Oumar was detained for 30 hours, and charged two days later with libel and insults. His passport was retained for 2 months.[1] [4] He is jailed again starting 21 July.[5]
In July 2008, Mohammed Ould Abdel Latif, editor of Al-Houriya, was also arrested and detained by the Mauritanian police the day he published an article about corruption and briberies collected by high court judges.[2] His article stipulated that these judges had received 68,650 euros to release a businessman and a policeman accused of drug trafficking.[6]
On 6 August 2008, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called for the release of the two journalists.[5]