Mauritania: Dispute over imprisoned slavery critics

In 1999, Fatima M’Baye, a lawyer from Mauritania, was awarded the Human Rights Prize of the city of Nuremberg. Due to the catastrophic human rights situation in her homeland, she is now refusing to be honored by the Mauritanian president. President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz had planned to award the head of the “Mauritanian Human Rights Association” last Saturday, on occasion of the Independence Day of the West African country. But the dedicated women’s rights activist refused, pointing out the ongoing imprisonment of two slavery-critics. On Monday, the STP’s Africa-expert, Ulrich Delius, praised Fatima M’Baye’s courage and determination as a “clear sign against the criminalization of human rights activists and slavery critics in Mauritania.”

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples, the dispute over the detention of the two slavery critics Biram Dah Abeid and Brahim Ramdhane – who were sentenced to two years imprisonment in January 2015 – is about to escalate. In the capital Nouakchott, there are daily demonstrations for the release of the human rights activists – and there are more and more according appeals from abroad. The two detainees are the President and the Vice President of the human rights organization IRA. In Nouakchot, the security forces often treat demonstrators ruthlessly. Last Sunday, twelve IRA-supporters were arrested in the crackdown on the protests, among them four women. Three more supporters of the human rights organization had been arrested in the town of Aleg on November 8. They were released without charges after a week of detention, on November 15.

In an interview with the French TV channel TV5 on November 28, 2015, President Aziz claimed that there was no slavery in his country and that the imprisoned Biram Dah Abeid had not succeeded to present any evidence. “But that’s merely an attempt to justify his ignorance”, said Delius. “Various human rights organizations and the United Nations have published dozens of reports about slavery in Mauritania. This cannot simply be denied.”

Delius also rejected the Mauritanian President’s accusation that NGOs were trying to sow “hatred and discord” by commemorating the massacre of Inal, which took place 25 years ago. On November 28, 1990, members of the Mauritanian army had hung 28 dark-skinned soldiers in the military base of the village Inal, merely because of their skin color. The black African majority population of Mauritania demands the massacre not to be tabooed any longer. Further, the ruling minority of Arabs and Berbers is accused of exclusion and racism.

Header Photo: Michal Huniewicz via Flickr