NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) — A criminal court in Nouakchott sentenced two female opposition lawmakers to four years in prison on Monday after they criticized President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani on social media and accused the country’s Arab-dominated justice system of discriminating against Black citizens, their lawyers told The Associated Press.
Lawmakers Marieme Cheikh Dieng and Ghamou Achour were convicted last month on charges of “attacking the symbols of the state” and “calling for gatherings with a view to undermine public security,” according to their attorneys, Mohamed Ould Ahmed Miske, Yaghoub Ould Sèïf and Moctar Ould Ely. The verdict was confirmed by the lawyers after Monday’s hearing. The government has not commented on the conviction.
The two lawmakers had posted several social media messages calling for Ghazouani’s removal and asserting that Mauritania’s Arab-dominated institutions treat Black citizens and descendants of former slaves as second-class citizens. The posts prompted the state to file charges, drawing condemnation from rights groups that have long criticized the West African nation for repeated human rights abuses and the survival of slavery.
Mauritania, which spans the northwest Sahara, was the last country in the world to formally abolish slavery in 1981. Yet the practice continues, human rights organizations say, with an estimated 149,000 people trapped in modern slavery, according to the 2023 Global Slavery Index. The nation’s economic and political elite, largely Arab and Amazigh, enslaved Black populations for centuries, and activists say entrenched racial hierarchies persist in the judicial system and broader society.
Biram Dah Abeid, the leader of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement, a coalition group allied with the registered Sawab party, condemned the trial as unjust and politically motivated. At a news conference following the verdict, he called the two lawmakers “heroes” and “sincere fighters against injustice.”
The lawmakers are part of Dah Abeid’s coalition, which has campaigned against racial discrimination and the legacy of slavery. The coalition allied with the Sawab party to secure seats in parliament.