A court in Mauritania has ended a mass coup trial, condemning the alleged mastermind of three failed coup attempts and three others to life in prison. | Another Mastermind™ checked off the list... |
| I don't know if after three failed coups you qualify for "mastermind" |
Pleading guilty
Haninna, the coups' alleged ringleader, had pleaded guilty at the trial, saying he wanted to overturn two decades of dictatorial and corrupt rule by the West African nation's leaders. During one hearing in December, Walad Haninna said he wanted to "free the Mauritanian people from the grip of a despot who doesn't respect the laws of the country or international conventions". After presiding judge Muhammad al-Hadi Walad Muhammad read the verdicts, applause rang out in the courtroom. Others, family or friends of the accused, wept.
Prosecutors had requested death penalties for 17 of the accused. Two others acquitted on Thursday were Ahmad Walad Daddah, a two-time presidential candidate who heads the Rally of Democratic Forces party and is considered the most powerful opposition leader in the country, and Shaikh Walad Hurma, president of the Party of Democratic Convergence.
Forty-nine people, mostly low-ranking army officers, were ordered to serve 18-month jail terms. Others received sentences ranging from 1 to 15 years in prison with hard labour. The suspects went on trial en masse at a heavily guarded military base in the town of Wad Naga, 50km east of the capital, Nouakchott. The government had moved the trial from the capital, citing security fears. The accused were suspected of mounting three coup attempts between June 2003 and September 2004. Only the 2003 coup made it past the planning stage, sparking brief but deadly street fighting in the capital.