35 Mauritanians freed in Mali; some tortured, official says

Thirty-five Mauritanians who had been detained in Mali returned home on Wednesday, Mauritania's government spokesman said, alleging that some had been mistreated and tortured by Malian authorities.

Houssein Ould Medou told journalists that the detainees were innocent Mauritanian citizens and that the suspicions against them were unfounded.

A Malian foreign ministry source and a police source told AFP that the individuals had been suspected of being terrorists. The Malian foreign ministry source said they were released on Friday after intervention by the Mauritanian embassy in Bamako.

The detainees had been held for almost three weeks, according to Mauritania's state-run Mauritanian News Agency. The agency said they returned on a Mauritania Airlines flight to Nema, in Mauritania's far southeast, on Wednesday afternoon and were greeted by officials and family members.

The Mauritanian News Agency said the Mauritanians were detained in Mali after leaving Ivory Coast. It cited a government official as saying President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani had intervened to help assure their return.

While in Mali, the Mauritanians posted on social media that they had been mistreated and that belongings including watches, money and clothing had been stolen.

Mali has faced a security crisis since 2012. It has seen a heightened wave of attacks since April by a coalition of Tuareg separatists and jihadists from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known as JNIM.