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| Africa North |
| Jailed Mauritanian Salafists declare repentance |
| 2010-02-13 |
| [Maghrebia] The Mauritanian government is reporting positive results from a "spiritual dialogue" between moderate religious scholars and imprisoned Salafists, with nearly all the inmates involved declaring their "repentance". To initiate the dialogue, Sheikh Mohamed El Hacen Ould Deddew led a panel of scholars that debated with 68 Salafists in a two-day event that began on January 18th. An earlier Nouakchott conference on tolerance set the stage for the debate, which challenged inmates to take more moderate stances. In an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Ould Deddew said that most of the prisoners had vowed they would quit Al-Qaeda. The prisoners included three men who declared their repentance for the 2007 killing near Aleg of a French family of tourists. "In addition, they pledged not to return to [these activities], and not to carry arms in Mauritania against either Muslims or infidels," Ould Deddew added. Mauritania would "continue to rid its soil of Al-Qaeda and acts of violence," he said, adding that authorities have to "accelerate the arrangement of positive steps based on that dialogue". A spokesperson for the scholars, Mohamed El Mokhtar Ould Mbale, said in a press conference on February 4th that the dialogue tackled topics including allegiance, baraa (disavowal), governance, democracy, positive laws, isteaman (pledge of security) and aggression. The scholars presented Sharia rules, "and the young men dealt so positively with them that some of them asked God for repentance and said they had previously had a confused understanding of these concepts". "The dialogue is not just an occasion that starts and then ends; rather, it's an option and approach adopted by the state in dealing with all issues on the table in the country," added Ould Mbale. "It will be renewed on an as-needed basis." Ould Mbale declined to comment on when or how the prisoners would be released now that they have signed declarations of regret for resorting to arms and violence as the means of achieving their goals. "We have advised the president of the dialogue's results, which have been good," the rapporteur of the scholars committee, Abdellahi Ould Aminou, told the state media on February 3rd. "We can say that it had a 90% success rate, and that the goals set will have a good effect, not just on those who were the target of the dialogue, but also on those who may embrace these ideas, the public arena, and on all the Mauritanian people who were impatiently waiting for this dialogue". Ould Aminou said that 90% of the Salafists involved in the dialogue had declared their "repentance". During a February 3rd meeting with members of the scholars committee, President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz promised to continue the dialogue with the Salafists in order to resolve outstanding issues. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Regrets for being caught, or regrets for not killing more before being caught? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-02-13 04:51 |