Mauritania activists jailed as police quash resurgent anti-slavery protests
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Version 0 of 1. Police used teargas to disperse protesters, after three anti-slavery activists – including a presidential runner-up – were jailed amid a resurgent anti-slavery movement in the nation with the world’s highest rate of the practice. Biram Ould Abeid, the head of an anti-slavery group, who came second in presidential polls in Mauritania last year, was handed a two-year jail sentence alongside fellow human rights defenders Brahim Bilal and Djiby Sow. Himself the son of freed slaves, Ould Abeid and seven others were arrested in November, after they began criss-crossing the desert country to raise awareness of land rights among Haratines, or black Mauritanians, who were historically enslaved by lighter-skinned compatriots. Haratines are often forced to give up a portion of their crops to the traditional masters. But Mauritanian authorities accused Ould Abeid’s Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement of spreading “racist propaganda” during its caravan, arresting him and shutting down the organisation’s headquarters in the capital, Nouakchott. Bilal and Sow were arrested for calling for protests against the detention of their colleague. All three men were charged under anti-terrorism laws for “belonging to an illegal organisation, leading an unauthorised rally, and violence against the police”, said defence lawyer Brahim Ould Ebetty, who added that they would appeal. “The verdict is arbitrary and political. Just because a Haratine is fighting against slavery in Mauritania … he is condemned to prison.” Ould Abeid had accused the president, Mohamed Abdelaziz, of rigging the elections after he won 82% of the vote. Seven others on trial were released. Supporters, many of whom had also flocked to the awareness workshops set up by the group, reportedly stormed the courthouse in the southern city of Rosso, and surrounded the prosecutor’s office while others smashed the windows of the police van that was carrying the three men. Police responded with teargas, leaving four people injured. “The conviction of these activists for taking part in peaceful protests on charges which are vague and open to abuse violates their human rights to free expression and freedom of peaceful assembly,’’ said Gaetan Mootoo, a west Africa researcher for Amnesty International. “Their conviction appears to be politically motivated with members of the group targeted on account of their peaceful activism.” Anti-slavery activists have stepped up campaigning recently in Mauritania, which in 1981 became the world’s last country to officially abolish slavery. But the practice has continued to flourish in remote desert outposts. Figures are notoriously difficult to confirm. The Walk Free Foundation said recently that up to 151,000 people in the country are thought to be slaves. Activists suggest the number could be five times higher. But there has been only one successful conviction since slavery was criminalised in 2007. In the face of repeated official denials, former slaves speak of a rigid caste system that favours “noble-born” Beydan, or white Mauritanians. Darker-skinned Mauritanians and black Africans say that zealous efforts to brand the country an Arab republic have left them on the the edges of society by concentrating power and wealth among overwhelmingly lighter-skinned people. Disenfranchisement is often insidious. “We are reaching a point where it’s getting hard to see how we can peacefully regain our rights,” said Ibrahima Ndiaye from Nouakchott. Last year, the 52-year-old organised a 10-day, 400km march through the Sahara to protest against black citizens being held in what he said amounted to “slave camps”. About 100 marchers were among almost 30,000 black citizens who fled systematic ethnic killings by security forces in the early 1990s. Roughly 6,000 later returned under UN escort in 2008, but have been denied national identity cards repeatedly, depriving them of land ownership, employment opportunities and even the ability to travel freely in a country littered with military checkpoints. “We’re effectively refugees in our own country,” said Ndiaye, adding that children of returnees frequently can’t go to school. The lack of papers means the former farmers, who are unable to regain their lands, have instead been rehoused in camps without water or electricity supplies. “These are people who once worked their own fields, had homes and animals, and are now living in terrible conditions,” said Alassane Dia, a friend of Ould Abeid who runs his own pressure group, Ne Touche Pas à ma Nationalité (“hands off my nationality”). Returnees were told the government had sold their land to anonymous buyers, or given it to Haratines. “It’s a deliberate, calculated strategy by the state with the aim of pitching two oppressed [black] groups against each other. It is done so they don’t unite,” Dia added. Ne Touche Pas à ma Nationalité has also led protests after the government announced plans to include race categories on national identity documents. Only four ethnicities – Moorish, Soninké, Fulani and Wolof – would be recognised, disenfranchising the Haratines. |