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DAKAR — The torture of prisoners including al-Qaida suspects has increased under the military junta that rules Mauritania, where security forces routinely abuse detainees with electric shocks, burnings, beatings and sexual violence, an international rights group said Wednesday.
Government officials in the northwest African nation could not immediately be reached for comment on the allegations.
Amnesty International issued a report accusing the government of "routine and systematic torture of prisoners." It said security forces carried out the acts with impunity to extract confessions.
"Torture is used against all categories of prisoners in Mauritania — whether they are suspected Islamists, soldiers accused of involvement in a coup, or those detained for simple ordinary crimes," said Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty International's Mauritania researcher, who conducted investigations in the northwest African country.
Africa's newest oil producer suffered an Aug. 6 military coup, sparked when the president fired the country's top four military officials for supporting lawmakers who had accused the president of corruption. The military had also accused the ousted president taking a soft stance against Islamic hard-liners, and the military junta which took power has said one of its priorities will be routing out terrorist cells.
Amnesty International said the use of torture by security forces was used to extract "confessions" which were allowed as evidence in court cases.
It said the "heritage" of torture had evolved from decades of harsh one-party rule and dictatorship which ended with the country's first free elections in 2007. The historic vote had raised hopes the country's traditional climate of fear would end.
But the recent coup "and the strengthening of the fight against 'terrorism,' which has led to the increased use of torture against those suspected of such acts, risk disappointing these slim hopes," Amnesty said.
The rights group said it had documented numerous forms of torture, including "sleep deprivation, cigarette burns, the suspension of detainees from a metal bar, blows and psychological torture" as well as sexual violence, the pulling out of hair and electric shocks.
The group said threats were made to prisoners prior to one Amnesty International visit this year. "One prisoner said: 'When they told us about Amnesty International's visit, the guards threatened us. They said that we could say whatever we liked, but that we would regret it, because the Amnesty people would be leaving, but we prisoners would be staying there with them.'"
Mauritania has dealt with low-level violence its government has blamed on terror cells linked to or members of al-Qaida for years. In late 2007, gunmen believed linked to al-Qaida murdered four French tourists, prompting organizers of the famous Dakar Rally to cancel the race this year.
The U.S. sees Mauritania as a bulwark against the southward encroachment of al-Qaida-linked militants who are far more active further north in Algeria. But Washington condemned the coup and suspended non-humanitarian aid.
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Associated Press Writer Ahmed Mohamed contributed to this report from Nouakchott, Mauritania.
