Demands to Refer Case of Ex-Mauritanian President to Court Specialized in Corruption Cases

Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz at Nouakchott airport in 2018. (Ludovic Marin, AP)
Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz at Nouakchott airport in 2018. (Ludovic Marin, AP)
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Demands to Refer Case of Ex-Mauritanian President to Court Specialized in Corruption Cases

Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz at Nouakchott airport in 2018. (Ludovic Marin, AP)
Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz at Nouakchott airport in 2018. (Ludovic Marin, AP)

Mauritania’s public prosecution asked the investigating magistrates to refer the case of former president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and those accused with him of corruption, illicit enrichment and money laundering to the criminal court specialized in corruption cases for trial.

The request was made after the probe team announced completing more than a year-long investigation initiated by the parliament.

In a statement on Friday, the prosecution said it made the request after reviewing the investigation results and examining the documents collected during the investigation process and based on extensive evidence.

Commenting on the prosecution’s request, coordinator of the lawyers for Abdel Aziz’s defense Mohameden Ould Icheddou said that there was no indictment addendum to the end of investigation notice.

He stressed that the lawyers were completely absent from the investigation process and the legal procedures provided for in similar cases, adding in a press statement that head of the probe team refused to meet with the defendants’ advocates.

Abdel Aziz, 64, came to power in Mauritania, a vast desert country of fewer than five million people, in a 2008 coup and was an important ally of Western powers fighting militants in the Sahel region

He was replaced by a political ally, current president Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, but quickly found that his government's actions, including deals on offshore oil projects, came under scrutiny by parliament.

The ex-president has said he is being persecuted in a bid to keep him out of politics, but has vowed he will not go into exile.



Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general has said, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024.

Netanyahu has described probes against Urich and other aides as politically motivated and on Monday said that Urich had not harmed state security. Urich's attorneys said the charges were baseless and that their client's innocence would be proven beyond doubt, reported Reuters.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement late on Sunday that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024.

The hostages' deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostages' families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.

Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free if a ceasefire had been reached, according to a defense official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.

Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.

In his statement on Monday, Netanyahu said Baharav-Miara's announcement was "appalling" and that its timing raised serious questions.

Netanyahu's government has for months been seeking the dismissal of Baharav-Miara. The attorney general, appointed by the previous government, has sparred with Netanyahu's cabinet over the legality of some of its policies.