Dozens of Islamic leaders imprisoned in Mauritania launched a hunger strike on Saturday, demanding they be allowed to visit lawyers, doctors and family after more than a month behind bars, a lawyer for the group said. The men were arrested in late April by police who claimed they were part of a covert terror organization that had been sending members abroad to train with Algerian insurgents. They included Mohamed Hassan Ould Dedew, spiritual leader of many Islamic radicals in the desert nation. He was among two in the group who were reported ill and in need of medical care, said lawyer Mohamed Ahmed Ould Haj Sidi. Interior Ministry spokesman Sidi Yeslem Ould Amar Cheine denied Dedew was ill, however, saying ¢his health is being used as a pretext to change the normal course of justice."| "Ain't nothin' wrong with him! He's fine!" "Urk! Gaaack!" "See? He always says that when he's feelin' hale!" |
| Inconvenient, that, if true... |