Mauritanian journalist Ahmed Ould Haroud, director of the independent news platform Al-Hassaniya, was detained twice in 2025 for his reporting on police misconduct and an opposition political figure.
On September 15, Ould Haroud was detained while covering a peaceful reception at the airport in the capital Nouakchott in support of an opposition member of parliament who was returning home from abroad, according to news reports. He was held for two days without a formal charge and his phone confiscated, only for it to be returned five days later.
The national journalists’ union denounced his detention as harassment.
Previously, on July 26, Mauritanian security forces detained Ould Haroud for three days without charge for publishing a video to Facebook of an incident involving a traffic police officer, he told CPJ in a phone call.
Earlier in the month, Ould Haroud said he was stopped while driving in Nouakchott by a police officer who demanded a lift to a police station or his vehicle could be seized.
When Ould Haroud refused, the officer detained him on the roadside for almost two hours while he drank tea, Ould Haroud told CPJ. Ould Haroud filmed the incident on his phone and later published the footage to Facebook.
Ould Haroud told CPJ that both detentions were intended to intimidate independent journalists and discourage reporting on current events and police misconduct.
CPJ’s emailed request for comment from the Mauritanian Ministry of Justice did not receive a response.