MAURITANIA HANDS DOWN DEATH SENTENCES IN CRIME CRACKDOWN

a court in Nouakchott, Mauritania, handed down ten death sentences for murder, a judicial source said. The sentences on June 21, 22 were pronounced against three Mauritanians and six foreigners for four different murders committed in 2008. Two victims were restaurant owners, a Frenchwoman attacked in her home by two Guineans and a Gambian with intent to rob, and a Lebanese murdered by three Nigerian employees. Three Mauritanians were found guilty of killing a local shopkeeper, who was found dead with 17 stab wounds, and a fourth was sentenced for murdering a friend in a jealous rage.