An appeal court in Nouakchott confirmed the one-year imprisonment sentence imposed on Abdel Fettah Ould Abeidna, managing editor of the Al-Aqsa newspaper, for defaming businessman Mohamed Ould Bouammatou, on February 11, 2008.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)'s correspondent reported that the court also set aside the initial 300 million ouguiyas (approximately US $1,204,577) damages awarded against the journalist, pending the determination of befitting damages to Bouammatou.

The correspondent said the court is expected to invite an expert for the determination on March 8, 2008.

On November 7, 2007 Abeidna was sentenced to one year in prison, a fine of 50,000 ouguiyas (about US$200) and the 300 million ouguiyas in damages and interest. The journalist who was out of the country filed an appeal.

On May 16, 2007, Al-Aqsa, a daily Arabic-language newspaper, published an article linking Bouammatou to a drug scandal. Unhappy about the publication, the businessman filed a complaint to the authorities, following which Abeidna was arrested and subsequently detained on May 24, 2007 under a court order.

The journalist was granted bail May 28, 2007, after four days in detention.He was initially charged with "defamation" under the press law but the Supreme Court changed it to "false accusation" under the criminal code.