A court in Mauritania has sentenced three young al-Qaeda members to death for the 2007 murders of four French tourists in the west African country.
"The court has decided to sentence to death Mohamed Ould Chabarnou, Maarouf Ould Haiba and Sidi Ould Sidna," court president Ould Khaya said in Arabic as he read out the verdict.
The judge and his 2 assessors deliberated for several hours before delivering the sentences overnight.
It was the 1st time in 20 years that the death penalty has been applied in the former French colony.
The defendants were accused of shooting 5 French tourists on December 24, 2007 near the city of Aleg in southern Mauritania. 4 died and the 5th was seriously wounded.
They pleaded not guilty to the murders but presented themselves as soldiers of al-Qaeda, acknowledging that they had been trained in camps of the organisation.
The last execution in Mauritania was in 1987 and carried out on 3 officers sentenced for attempting to overthrow the government of Maaouiya Ould Taya.
The death of the French tourists shook the country, which had a reputation of warmly welcoming visitors.
A few days afterwards the Paris-Dakar motor rally, which passes through the Saharan nation, was cancelled just before it was due to begin.
Source: News.au.com, May 25, 2010
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