24. The Mauritanian courts, by confirming the right of ownership of the [Complainant’s] mother and confirming her right to dispose of part of her property by the way of donation, confirmed that the Complainant’s mother’s freedom to own her property and to dispose of it. By doing so, Mauritanian courts furthermore, proved that she was neither a slave nor a servant. 25. The [African] Commission, by deciding that the Islamic Republic of Mauritania had contravened Article 14 of the African Charter and recommending that the government should return the property to the Complainant, had deprived the recipient [of] a property that was donated to him. The [African] Commission has also, without a legal basis, restrained, the right and freedom of the Complainant’s mother to freely dispose of a part of her property in a manner she deemed fit. The [African] Commission wanted to protect what it considered to be the right of a citizen (the Complainant). However, in doing so it advised the government to do what constitutes a violation of the rights of two citizens: the mother of the Complainant and the recipient. 26. For all the foregoing reasons, I believe that the [African] Commission had erred in this communication, by deciding that the Islamic Republic of Mauritania had violated the provisions of Article 14 of the African Charter. Done at the 35th Ordinary Session held in Banjul, The Gambia from 21st May to 4th June 2004. Footnotes 1. The decision on merits of the communication was taken in the absence of two commissioners including the one who was the second rapporteur on the case. A third commissioner abstained from the process because he is a national of the Respondent State. Two other commissioners did not take part in the deliberations made in Pretoria, South Africa upon and which the decision in this communication was taken by the [African] Commission. 2. The decision on this communication was taken on the basis of the deliberations that took place during the 31st Session of the [African] Commission in Pretoria, South Africa in May 2002. The Secretariat of the [African] Commission was requested to provide the commissioners with transcripts of the oral statements by commissioners. However, the Secretariat failed to make available the transcripts of the deliberations made in Arabic because of its inability to address the matter in Arabic due to the fact that no staff of the Secretariat can work in Arabic. 3. Mohamed bin Mohamed Almustaffa.