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18 January 2011
Three anti-slavery protesters jailed in Mauritania. Sentences ‘racist’ say activists.
To read the press release in French please click here
Anti-Slavery International is calling on the government of Mauritania to immediately release three activists sentenced to a year in prison, including six months suspended, after protesting against the slavery of two young girls in the capital Nouakchott.
All three members of the anti-slavery organisation Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement of Mauritania (IRA) were sentenced on 7 January for assaulting police officers and obstructing public order during a protest against the detention of two girls in slavery on 13 December. A further three activists arrested during the protest received six month suspended sentences.
However, activists believe the sentences reflect the institutional racism and a concerted effort by the Mauritanian authorities to stamp out anti-slavery efforts.
Boubacar Messaoud, President of Mauritanian anti-slavery organisation SOS Esclaves, said: This sentence is indicative of the political intent of the authorities to intimidate anti-slavery activists and human rights defenders through the abusive use of justice and a corrupt judicial system, which is linked to the perpetrators of slavery.”
He added: “The complete absence of the implementation of anti-slavery provisions makes a mockery of the law. The systematic harassment of those who seek to work to assist victims is derived from a racist and reprehensible ideology which stigmatizes and oppresses groups on the basis of their birth status and the colour of their skin.”
Slavery was abolished in Mauritania in 1981 but was only criminalised in 2007. SOS Esclaves estimates that up 18 per cent of the population of Mauritania, or 600,000 people, are still in slavery and are the property of their ‘masters’.
The majority of people in slavery in Mauritania belong to the Hratine ‘slave caste’ and are descended from sedentary black African ethnic groups from the Senegal river captured, enslaved and assimilated by Maures (Moors) centuries ago. The Maures now form the ethnic elite in Mauritania and control the economy, government, military and police.
Biram Dah Ould Abeid, Cheikh Ould Abidine and Aliyine Ould Mbareck Fall, were arrested on 13 December after protesting outside a police station during a hearing to determine whether a nine-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl were held in slavery at the home of female bank employee Oumoulmoumnine mint Bakar Vall. The activists allege that the younger of the two girls had been held in domestic servitude for three years and the older for two and a half years.
The bank employee was found guilty of the exploitation of minors at a trial on 11 Jan and was sentenced to sixth months in prison on 16 January. The public prosecutor had asked for a minimum sentence of one year in prison. If the woman had been tried under the 2007 slavery law she would have faced up to 10 years in prison and a fine of between half a million and one million ouguiya (US$2,100-4,200).
Boubacar Messaoud said: “It is an outrage that someone protesting the injustice of slavery will face the same length of time in prison as a woman who forced children to work for her as slaves. It is significant that the woman at the centre of this was not convicted of slavery but of the lesser offence of the exploitation of minors. Despite the criminalisation of this practice in 2007 not a single person has yet to be charged for this terrible crime.”
