Jailed former Mauritanian President hospitalized for “urgent care’’

Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, in pre-trial detention since June in a case of alleged corruption, was admitted Wednesday night to the military hospital in Nouakchott for “urgent care,” one of his lawyers announced Thursday.
Ould Abdelaziz, who led Mauritania from 2008 to 2019, “has been transferred to this hospital for urgent care (…) We have not been able to meet with him so far,” said one of his lawyers Mohameden Ould Icheddou, calling on the authorities to evacuate his client abroad for “intensive” care.
“Members of his family have visited him and felt that his situation is worrying, but stable,” Ould Icheddou said.
He said he had again asked the judge to release Mr. Ould Abdelaziz on bail after his hospitalization.
The Court of Appeal in Nouakchott had in early November again rejected a previous request for provisional release of the former Mauritanian leader.
In a statement issued Wednesday evening, his family said they “fear his physical liquidation” by the regime, which has “failed in its attempts to liquidate him politically.
The former head of state was charged in March with corruption, money laundering, illicit enrichment, squandering public property, granting undue advantages and obstructing the course of justice.
He was detained in June in a Nouakchott prison for failure to comply with his judicial supervision and for disturbing the peace.