A Senegalese embassy delegation visited all 21 Senegalese nationals detained at Mauritania's high-security Nbeika prison, roughly 550 km from Nouakchott, on 23-24 September 2026, finding six under death sentence, according to EnQuête Plus reporting republished by lactuacho.com and SenePlus. The delegation, led by Second Counsellor for Consular Affairs Mokhtar Diallo and including Warrant Officer Major Doudou Diakhaté and community facilitator Souleymane Sow, met individually with each detainee after being received by the Nbeika prefect and the prison commander. Local authorities reportedly described it as the first foreign consular mission to the facility since it opened in 2003.
Most of the 21 detainees reportedly acknowledged the facts behind their convictions, described as crimes, drug trafficking and organizing clandestine migration voyages that caused deaths. One death-row detainee, Khadim Sow, disputes his conviction, asserting the alleged victim is still alive — a claim relayed by the delegation and reported by SenePlus and lactuacho.com, though it has not been confirmed through court records. Senegal's ambassador to Mauritania, El Hadj Magatte Seye (also rendered Maguette Seye in some reports), pledged to review each case individually and said he would explore facilitating legal counsel for some long-sentence detainees, including Sow and others serving five- and ten-year terms. The delegation also distributed a symbolic cash gift of roughly 300,000 FCFA to the group.
Mauritania has not carried out an execution since 1987 despite retaining the death penalty in law, according to the rights group ECPM, though it voted against a UN moratorium resolution in December 2024, a shift ECPM says reclassified the country as "retentionist." The specific charges, trial dates and current appeal status for each of the six death-sentenced detainees remain undetailed in available reporting beyond the general categories cited above, and no Mauritanian court record, Senegalese foreign ministry statement or rights organization has separately addressed this specific case. The underlying detentions and sentences predate the September visit; what is new is the consular engagement itself and the ambassador's commitments, which have yet to produce confirmed legal action.