According to Amnesty International: "Amnesty International interviewed dozens of peaceful demonstrators, including women, who had been subjected to excessive use of force since 2014. [...] On 28 November 2017, 15 human rights defenders, including Maimouna Alpha Sy, the Secretary General of the Collectif des Veuves de Mauritanie (Widows’ Collective of Mauritania), were arrested in the town of Kaédi, about 340km south-east of Nouakchott, during Independence Day celebrations attended by the authorities, including the President of the Republic. They were handing out leaflets and deploying banners calling for truth, justice and compensation for the unlawful killings of their relatives, Afro-Mauritanian members of the security forces who were victims of extrajudicial executions between 1989 and 1991. The widows and orphans were arrested by men in civilian clothes who identified themselves as members of the Battalion for Presidential Security (Bataillon de Sécurité Présidentielle, BASEP), taken to a military base and questioned individually about their activities in Kaédi. Ten were released without charge the same day while the remaining five were transferred to the Directorate-General of Public Security of Kaédi and accused of “disrupting public order”. They were detained for six days, without access to a lawyer, before being released without charge on 3 December. Some of the orphans and widows were beaten by members of the BASEP at the time of their arrest and during their transfer to the military base. One of the orphans required hospital treatment after being punched in the head." ^[+]