NOUAKCHOTT, July 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Mauritanian cabinet ratified Monday, June 30, a bill turning mosques into state-run public facilities.

The decision follows a sweeping arrest campaign that netted some 60 Imams and preachers for allegedly "plotting against the state security" and led to the closure of six religious institutes, associations and Islamic-oriented newspapers.

Minister of Communications and Relations with Parliament Hammoud Ould Mohammad told reporters the new law would make turn mosques to "public facilities."

He argued this aimed at "securing for such sacred places legal guarantees and provide them with necessary legal protection and support, so that they could undertake their noble tasks properly."

The new move "will protect mosques from any conduct violating its sanctity and the country's Malik school of jurisprudence," said the minister.

He added that the law also addresses "the pivotal role played by mosques Imams and their assistants, who do make every effort to deliver the mosque message.

The new legislation outlines financial and moral assistance given to Imams and their assistants, said Ould Mohammad.

The former minister of culture and Islamic orientation had threatened three months ago to change "the mosques which change its course into bakeries."

The police campaign also coincided with an intense media campaign spearheaded by the government that enlisted employees from the ministry of Waqf (endowments) and the "appointed " supreme Islamic council.

On Monday, a court judge suspended, in a surprising move, investigations with arrested Imams, though only three of them have not been questioned.

The Imams are facing charges of "plotting against the state security and the country's constitutional system and working through unauthorized organizations."