Mauritanian human rights activist and slavery opponent Biram Dah Abeid has been sentenced by a court in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott to one year in prison, of which six months are to be spent on probation. Three further slavery critics were sentenced to 6 months on probation in the trial that ended Thursday. "This unjust sentencing is intended to silence opponents of slavery," criticized Ulrich Delius, head of the Africa section at the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). "This marks a regression to the dark days when the subject of slavery was taboo in Mauritania."

"Before the law making slavery punishable was passed in 2007, public criticism of slavery was dangerous," reported Delius. Simply being interviewed by a foreign media outlet was enough to condemn the interviewee to prison in those days. Since August 2008, however, there is a new regime which supposedly rejects the old policies.

The convicted human rights activists were accused of holding an unannounced public demonstration and of civil unrest. The prosecutor's office originally called for a 3-year-year prison sentence for Biram Dah Abeid. The human rights activist is chair of the anti-slavery movement IRA (Initiative pour la Résurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste).

Together with other human rights activists, he spontaneously demonstrated in front of the police headquarters in Nouakchott on 13 December 2010 for the release of two enslaved children. According to research by the civil rights activists, the 9 and 13-year-old girls are kept as slaves by an employee of the country's central bank, forced to do housework without pay. The allegations were played down in a hearing before the police. In response, the human rights activists demonstrated in front of the police station. Fifteen demonstrators were arrested at the time.

Officials have been trying to silence Biram Dah Abeid ever since he publicly criticized Mauritania's continued slavery practices, in February of 2009 in France. For example, they circulated a false health certificate on the Internet saying he was mentally ill. He was also labeled a "friend of Israel" and "enemy of the state," because his criticism allegedly harmed the country's image.

Even after the official abolition of serfdom in 1981, slavery continues, particularly in rural areas of Mauritania. The majority of victims are the 550,000 Haratin of sub-Saharan Africa, working as unpaid farm laborers or domestic workers.

For further information pleace contact Ulrich Delius: 0049-(0)551-49906-27

Translated by Elizabeth Crawford