Mauritanian and Tunisian governments are hacking websites critical of their acti
IT experts claim that two African countries have mastered a new way of muzzling the online media — hacking dissident news sites. At least two websites were recently victims of hacking in Mauritania, said Isselmou Ould Dellahy O Maloum, a telecom researcher from Mauritania.
The websites have been critical of the military junta led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who ousted the country's democratically elected president, Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, in an Aug. 6 coup.
The Sahara Media news agency, considered the first news site in Mauritania, was also disabled for one to two days, while anbaa was not only hacked, but its office in Nouakchott was vandalised and computers were stolen, said Maloum, who is the coordinator of the For Mauritania website, a lobby group.
