07/12/2016

Mauritania: Further arrests of human rights activists

Authorities are trying to break up anti-slavery organization - Europe must react! (Press release)

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) together is campaigning for years together with its partner organization IRA Mauritanie against slavery in Mauritania. Photo: Michal Huniewicz via Flickr

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) accuses the the Mauritanian authorities of trying to break up the anti-slavery organization IRA-Mauritanie. “17 leading members of the human rights organization have been arrested since June 30, 2016 – and 14 of them are still in custody. They are facing criminal charges,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP's Africa-consultant, in Göttingen on Tuesday. In a letter to EU Development Commissioner Neven Mimica, the human rights organization wrote: “The EU must respond and make a clear statement for the protection of human rights advocates.  New development cooperations with Mauritania should only be implemented under the condition that the imprisoned human rights activists are released.”

Currently, there is no reliable  information regarding the whereabouts of the 14 detained slavery critics. “We are seriously concerned about their well-being. The size of the police task force raises concerns that the aim might be to silence the unwelcome slavery critics forever,” said Delius. Most recently, five leading representatives of the IRA-Mauritanie were arrested:  Mohamed Ould Datti, Lo Ousmane, Dah Ould Boushab, Ousmane Anne, and Abou Diop Abdallahi. Only one of them has been set free so far.  

The wave of arrests started after a group of former slaves had protested against the eviction of their houses in a slum. From the viewpoint of the authorities, IRA is partly responsible for the demonstrations – which is seen as an attempt to disturb social peace, as resistance against the state, as well as membership in an illegal organization. The human rights activists are denying responsibility for the violence, accusing the authorities of trying to criminalize the human rights organization based on a pretext.

The arbitrary arrests of the leading representatives of the IRA-Mauritanie are to be seen as a further escalation of the conflict between the most important anti-slavery organization in the country and the government, which has been going on for years. Six years ago, the authorities refused to officially recognize the IRA, which was founded in 2008. Biram Dah Abeid, IRA-president and winner of the Weimar Human Rights Prize, was released from prison in May 2016, after 555 days imprisonment. Currently, Biram is in the United Stated, because the US State Department honored his organization with a prize. It is the sixth international award the IRA received for its struggle against slavery.