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| - Amnesty International voiced concern Wednesday over Mauritania's arrest of two high-pofile feminsts and human rights activists, accused with 12 others of jeopardising national unity and the West African republic's religious tenets. A judicial source in the capital Nouakchott told AFP the 14 were held last week. Four of them were subsequently released but remain under surveillance. At a court hearing on Tuesday, the prosecutor sent the case to the state security office to "clarify and develop certain aspects of the enquiry". Among those being held are members of the Arem group (Alliance for the Re-foundation of the Mauritanian State), which was formed in Paris this year to work for "an end to the old practices of bad governance, injustice and impunity". Aminetou Mint El Moctar, a woman's rights activist and vice-president of Arem, is one of those detained then released under judicial control, according to Amnesty. Mekfoula Mint Brahim, winner of the 2018 Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law and recipient in December of France's highest accolade, the Legion d'Honneur, was similarly arrested and released. She was picked up for hosting a meeting of Arem "without informing the authorities," said Francois Patuel, an Amnesty researcher for West Africa. However Mint Brahimim denies even being a member of the group, a judicial source said. "As for the other people arrested, the charges remain unclear," Patuel said. A judicial source said the cases fall into two main groups. "The first three people were caught handing out copies of the bible," he said. The others arrested are accused of spreading secularism and suspected of "damaging national unity and social and religious cohesion, whereas Mauritania is an Islamic republic", the source said. Following the rise to power of President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani last August, Amnesty called on him to take more action to end slavery and protect human rights defenders. Patuel on Wednesday called for "the immediate release of anyone held solely for having exercised their right to free expression and assembly". Mauritanian justice on Wednesday also scrapped judicial procedures launched in 2017 against three opposition figures -- including Franco-Mauritanian businessman Mohamed Ould Bouamatou, a longtime thorn in the side of the regime. The dropped charges are part of a move towards "the normalisation of the political climate in the country," a source close to the government told AFP. str-siu/mrb/pvh/lc
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