Pardon granted for Mauritania MPs who accused president of discrimination

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani. (AFP/File)

• The two women parliamentarians were accused of describing Ghazouani on social media as a force behind “apartheid in Mauritania” in west Africa
• The two are members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement

NOUAKCHOTT: The president of Mauritania has granted a pardon to two opposition lawmakers sentenced to four years in jail for accusing him of racial discrimination against black people and descendants of slaves.
The state-run Mauritanian News Agency (AMI) reported that President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani announced the pardon in a decree Thursday.
The two women parliamentarians, Mariem Cheikh and Ghamou Achour, were accused of describing Ghazouani on social media as a force behind “apartheid in Mauritania” in west Africa.
The two are members of the human rights group the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court’s early May decision also ordered the removal of the digital content, the confiscation of the two women’s phones and the closure of their online accounts.
Slavery was officially abolished in Mauritania in 1981 but it persists and remains a sensitive subject, even though penalties were stiffened in 2015.
The country has a population of 5.5 million, comprising several ethnic groups including Moors, Haratins, Soninke and Fulani.
Haratins are the descendants of freed sub-Saharan black slaves.