Mauritanian Journalist Hanefi Ould Dahah was Assaulted for Reporting on a Businessman’s Handling of a Public Contract.

Mauritanian journalist Hanefi Ould Dahah was brutally assaulted for reporting on the management of a public contract by a businessman. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the authorities to ensure that the perpetrator of this unacceptable act of intimidation is brought to justice.

On January 26, Hanefi Ould Dahah, the director of the TTV television station, was violently assaulted outside his station's offices in Tevragh Zeina, in the western Nouakchott governorate. The attack was perpetrated by a businessman, shortly after the live broadcast of a program in which the journalist had mentioned information about the management of a public contract awarded to him. The assailant was taken into police custody on the night of the incident.

“This attack on a journalist for doing his job is intolerable. If the arrest of the assailant is a first step, it is imperative that this case does not remain without follow-up. We call on the Mauritanian authorities to bring the assailant to justice, in order to send a clear message that no attempt to intimidate journalists will be tolerated.