Two female opposition politicians in Mauritania were sentenced to four years in prison on Monday for insulting the president and claiming racial injustice, their lawyers told The Afro Economist Magazine.
Mariem Cheikh and Ghamou Achour were accused of using social media to describe President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani as the mentor of “apartheid in Mauritania.”
The two are members of the human rights organization Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement.
They were charged last month with “attacking the symbols of the state” and “calling for gatherings with a view to undermine public security.”
In a series of social media posts, the two MPs demanded Ghazouani’s dismissal and accused the Arab-dominated legal system of treating Black citizens and descendants of slaves as second class citizens.
The court in the capital Nouakchott issued its ruling late on Monday, ordering the removal of digital content, the confiscation of their phones, and the closure of their online accounts.
The MPs’ attorneys, Mohamed Ould Ahmed Miske, Yaghoub Ould Sèïf, and Moctar Ould Ely, announced the verdict of the trial in a criminal court in the capital Nouakchott to the AP. The government has not reacted on the conviction.
Long-term effects of slavery
The West African nation has long been condemned for human rights violations, with slavery’s continued presence casting a long shadow on its past.
For generations, the country’s economic and political aristocracy, consisting of Arab and Amazigh people, enslaved Black people from northwest Sahara.
Mauritania abolished slavery in 1981, becoming the world’s last country to do so. However, human rights organisations report that the practice continues, with around 149,000 people in modern slavery in this country of less than 5 million people, according to the 2023 Global Slavery Index.
Biram Dah Abeid, leader of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement coalition organization, criticised the trial as unjust and politically driven, calling the two parliamentarians “heroes” and “sincere fighters against injustice” at a post-verdict news conference.
The lawmakers are part of a coalition that is not a registered political party but has allied with the registered Sawab party to help them win elections.