Tag: Mauritania

AFRICANGLOBE - Prosecutors at a Mauritanian appeal court have requested 13 anti-slavery activists have their sentences increased to 20 years each for protesting against a forced slum clearance, a judicial source said. Defence lawyers for the activists from the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) had called this week for the case to be thrown out saying their clients were tortured in police custody.

AFRICANGLOBE - A court in the capital Nouakchott found the 13 -- members of a group fighting hereditary slavery in the west African country -- guilty of "use of violence", but Amnesty International has said they were falsely accused because of their advocacy work. The thirteen all claim they were tortured in prison in the run-up to the court case and lawyers for the group denounced Thursday's verdict as "a travesty of justice".

AFRICANGLOBE - Thirteen anti-slavery activists in Mauritania have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for their alleged role in a riot in June. A tribunal found the members of the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) guilty on Thursday of counts including attacks against the government, armed assembly and membership of an unrecognised organisation.

AFRICANGLOBE - Protesters have clashed with police in Mauritania after three anti-slavery activists were sentenced to two years in prison. At least four people were injured after the police used tear gas to disperse protestors on Thursday.

AFRICANGLOBE - A court in Mauritania has sentenced a man to death for apostasy for criticizing the Muslim Prophet Muhammed. It has been almost 30 years since the West African nation applied the death penalty.

AFRICANGLOBE - The US government has donated two new Cessna 208 Caravan aircraft to the slave trading nation of Mauritania's Islamic Air Force (FAIM) to boost its capacity to conduct patrols to counter maritime crimes and regional terrorist groups.

AFRICANGLOBE - Are there still slaves in Mauritania? Legally, no. Are large numbers of ex-slaves and their descendants still trapped in exploitative systems? Yes. "Slavery is alive and well in Mauritania" - Messaoud ould Boulkheir, President of Mauritania's Parliament, May 2013.

AFRICANGLOBE - Some 70,000 refugees from Mali are living in difficult conditions in the middle of the Mauritanian desert, with ethnic tensions in northern Mali quashing any hopes of a swift return home.

AFRICANGLOBE - In this 21st century of ours, there is still a country where African men, women and children are "constitutionally" inferior and can be led to the slaughter, like sheep without the slightest remorse or legal recourse. Shockingly, that country is in Africa.

AFRICANGLOBE - Dozens of enslaved Africans have escaped or been liberated since slavery was finally criminalized in Mauritania in 2007, but thus far just...

When the news spread that Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania had been shot my reaction was, "it finally happened!"While many of the details...

To better comprehend Mauritania, one should understand that slavery has been abolished three times! The fourth abolishment of slavery is yet to be announced...

The authorities in Mauritania must revoke jail sentences given to four anti-slavery activists who protested against the enslavement of a 10-year old girl, Amnesty International said today.