Hedallah's trial resumed following tension with the attorney

The defense commission for the former President of Mauritania Muhammad Khouna Weld Hedallah resumed deliberations, after it had withdrew from the court in protest of expulsion of one of its members, lawyer and the opposition parliamentarian, Muhammad Mahmoud Weld Lammat, from the court.

Weld Hedallah and 14 associates are being tried over accusations of conspiring to topple the regime, and of getting money from Libya. But Hedallah denied these accusations in front of the court.

News reports in Nouakchott said that the security forces prevented a group of demonstrators from attending the trial, and used tear gas and sticks to disperse them. The reports added that these forces later permitted the families of the accused persons to attend the trial session. Hedallah faces an imprisonment penalty between 10 to 20 years, or life imprisonment with labor if he is convicted.

Hedallah's trial comes three weeks after he took part in the presidential elections he had lost. The opposition said that the elections were falsified in favor of the current president who has ruled the country since 1984.

On the other hand, the Mauritanian authorities detained the university teacher Abdul Salaam Weld Harma over his participation in the "opposite direction" program of the Qatari al-Jazeera TV, broadcast last Tuesday on the subject of Iraq. Press sources said that Weld Harma was arrested upon his arrival back home.