Oct 18, 2018

Press Release: Mauritanian Authorities Guilty of Instrumentalising Justice for Political Purposes


The UNPO, its Member the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist movement in Mauritania (IRA) France-Mauritanie and law firm Jus Cogens voice their concerns regarding the current state of human rights in Mauritania in a press release published this Thursday 18 October 2018.

The press release is available below and downloadable by clicking here (French) or here (English).

Mauritania, ruled by President Aziz, is currently going through a serious political crisis, as arbitrary and politically-motivated arrests and criminal proceedings continue being carried out and become more systematic. The rule of law is no longer respected, as illustrated by the suppression of the Mauritanian Senate on 15 August 2017 in an institutional coup d'état. Antislavery activist and United Nations Human Rights Prize awardee Mr Biram Dah Abeid was arrested again on 7 August 2018 and is still in jail. As for Mr Mohamed Bouamatou, one of the mainopponents to President Aziz, he is still the object of a request for an Interpol Red Notice from Mauritanian police. The Interpol Commission for the Control of Files, in charge of the rednotice procedure,will take a decision on this case this week [15-21 October 2018].

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist movement in Mauritania France (IRA-France-Mauritanie) and law firm Jus Cogens express their deep concerns regarding these politically-motivated moves and the continuous human rights violations taking place in Mauritania and beyond. They urge the Mauritanian authorities to put an immediate end to these acts and to release the political opponents who arearbitrarily detained in the country. They urge Interpol to support human rights and tosanction the attempted instrumentalisation of the Red Notice mechanism by Mauritania, as well as to declinesuch politically-motivated requests from this State.

Photo courtesy of Magharebia @Flickr.com