Mauritania Islamists: Abdel Aziz oppressing country

 Protesters from Mauritania's Tawassoul Party (pic by Magharebia) Nouakchott – Mohammed Sharif Aabidi Mauritania's Tawassoul Party, headed by Islamist leader Mohammed Jamil Mansour, criticised on Sunday the "repressive policy practised by President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz against the country's citizens". "Mauritanian society is being exposed to the worst kinds of oppression and abuse," said a statement by the party where it criticised  the "dictatorship" of Ould Abdel Aziz's regime. The statement said that unarmed citizens in Nouadhibou, north of Mauritania were subjected to repression, brutality and abduction while women were detained in harsh conditions which were against the law. Abdel Aziz, a former general, took part in a 2005 coup and another in 2008, which saw him seize power. He became the president of a transitional authority, from which he resigned to contest and win the 2009 elections, a move condemned as a trick by the opposition. Youth members of the Mashal movement, which demands the overthrow of the current regime, are reportedly beaten, harassed, repressed and bombarded with tear gas during demonstrations. "The medical school of Nouakchott University has turned into a military barracks due to oppression and abuse faced by the students," said the statement. The National Union of Students in Mauritania reported that police detained three female students from the medical school and took them to the Zeina 1 police station. Other female students at the scene were beaten, some of them lost consciousness and were taken to hospital. Police have been harassing and detaining medical students for many weeks. Some have been arbirtarily expelled, while the university administration follows a policy of collective punishment imposed on students which constitutes a real threat to education, health, morals and values. The statement added that a few days ago protesters of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), headed by activist Biram Ould Abeid, were physically assaulted resulting in the death of Sheikh Ould El-Maalli from asphyxiation due to tear gas. The activists were protesting for Ould Abeid's release. However, Mauritanian security services held opposition MP Mohamed Mustafa Ould Badr al-Din responsible for spreading the news of the young man's death from suffocation in attempt to provoke the public, claiming he died from asthma at his home. His family reportedly confirmed that he was suffering from severe asthma, contradicting statements by Badr al-Din.