Haratin: Human Rights Defender Cheikh Ould Vall Re-Arrested
After being released from a three-day sentence only days before, human rights defender and member of IRA-Mauritanie was re-arrested with no warrant, allegedly for helping his mother in a land dispute case.
Below is an article by Front Line Defenders:
On the morning of 24 February 2014, police officers arrested human rights defender Mr Cheikh ould Vall with no arrest warrant. They took him to the prosecutor of Kaedi who immediately decided his transfer to the civil prison of Kaedi.
The human rights defender had been released from previous arbitrary detention on 19 February 2014.
Cheikh ould Vall is a member of the anti-slavery Initiative pour la Résurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste en Mauritanie – IRA (Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement Mauritania). When he was re-arrested, he was on board public transport from Kaedi to Nouakchott.
On 26 February 2014, prison warders reportedly told Cheikh ould Vall that he was detained on the request of the same judge who had ordered his previous imprisonment, in connection with his attempt to support his mother on a land dispute case.
Front Line Defenders condemns the second period of arbitrary detention against Cheikh ould Vall, and calls for his immediate release, as his detention is related to his legitimate work against slavery in Mauritania.
