Release of human rights defenders Brahim Bilal Ramdhane and Biram Dah Abeid
On 17 May 2016, the Supreme Court of Mauritania ruled for the release of Biram Dah Abeid and his colleague Brahim Bilal Ramdhane. The human rights defenders had been arrested on 11 November 2014 and sentenced to two years in prison, on charges of “illegal assembly and rebellion”, “encouraging rebellion” and “refusing to comply with the orders of administrative authorities.”
Brahim Bilal Ramdhane is a human rights defender and Vice President of the Initiative pour la Résurgence du mouvement Abolitionniste (IRA) (The Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement), an organisation that works to eradicate slavery in Mauritania. Brahim was born a slave and worked as a slave for 20 years.
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- 17 May 2016 : Release of human rights defenders Biram Dah Abeid and Brahim Bilal Ramdhane
- 26 February 2015 : Hunger strike ended by human rights defender Biram Dah Abeid and his fellow detained colleagues
- 15 January 2015 : Sentencing of human rights defenders Messrs Biram Dah Abeid, Brahim Bilal Ramdhane and Djiby Sow to two years' imprisonment
On 17 May 2016, the Supreme Court of Mauritania ruled for the immediate release of anti-slavery human rights defenders Mr Biram Dah Abeid and Mr Brahim Bilal Ramdhane.
Biram Dah Abeid and Brahim Bilal Ramdhane are respectively President and Vice President of Initiative pour la Résurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste - IRA (Initiative for the Resurgence of an Abolitionist Movement), an organisation that works for the eradication of slavery in Mauritania. In 2013, Biram Dah Abeid received the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk as well as, subsequently, the UN Human Rights Prize.
In the ruling on 17 May 2016, the Supreme Court judge noted that the charges brought against the two human rights defenders should incur a maximum one year prison sentence. Biram Dah Abeid and Brahim Bilal Ramdhane were arrested and arbitrarily detained on 11 November 2014. The human rights defenders were sentenced to two years imprisonment on 15 January 2015 on charges of “illegal assembly and rebellion”, “encouraging rebellion” and “refusing to comply with the orders of administrative authorities”. As they had already served an eighteen-month sentence, the judge ruled for their immediate release.
Front Line Defenders welcomes the release of human rights defenders Biram Dah Abeid and Brahim Bilal Ramdhane, and calls on the Mauritanian authorities to guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in the country are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities, without fear of reprisals and free of all undue restrictions.
On 26 February 2015, human rights defenders Messrs Biram Dah Abeid, Brahim Ramdhane Bilal et Djiby Sow ended a hunger strike in Aleg prison begun three days before. The human rights defenders had called for their trial be transferred to the original jurisdiction of Nouakchott, for their right to visits by relatives to be restored, and for a date be set for the trials of their colleagues detained in Nouakchott prison. The human rights defenders await the outcome of their appeal to the Nouakchott Court of Appeal, although the files for their case still do not appear to have been transferred from Rosso, where the trial in first instance took place, to Nouakchott, and no date has been set for the trial.
The hunger strike was ended when the prison authorities agreed to remove the restrictions on visits, and allow the human rights defenders access to their legal representatives, spouses and other visitors, in the presence of prison guards. The human rights defenders have also been permitted to use an outdoor space for exercise, and a number of objects, previously confiscated, were returned.
Separately, the verdict of the Criminal Court of Nouakchott in the case against three other members of IRA detained in Nouakchott Prison, Dr Saad Louleyd, Ms Mariem Cheikh and Mr Yacoub Moussa, is awaited on 7 March 2015. During the trial, the Public Prosecutor requested three years' imprisonment against the three human rights defenders, in addition to a 540,000 Mauritanian Ouguiya fine (approximately €1630) and the restriction of their civil rights for five years following the completion of their prison sentence. The three human rights defenders were arrested for denouncing slavery and the practices of slave owners. On 14 February 2015, Saad Louleyd was admitted to hospital for aggravated diabetes due to the lack of medical care provided by the Nouakchott prison administration. Mariem Cheikh was the victim of acts of torture in the Sebkha women's prison on 14 January 2015.
On 15 January 2015, human rights defenders Messers Biram Dah Abeid, Brahim Bilal Ramdhane and Djiby Sow were sentenced to two years' imprisonment for charges relating to their participation in a caravan of protest calling for the final abolition of slavery in Mauritania.
Their colleagues, who faced the same charges, were acquitted. Biram Dah Abeid and Brahim Bilal Ramdhane remain in detention, while Dijby Sow was released under judicial control on 14 November 2014.
The Court sentenced each of the three defenders to two years' imprisonment on charges of “illegal assembly and rebellion”, “encouraging rebellion” and “refusing to comply with the orders of admistrative authorities.” Their lawyers have appealed the conviction. The human rights defenders' colleagues, Messrs. Sabbar Hussein, Khattri Rahel, Dah Boushab, Abidine Matalla, Samba Diagana, and Mahmoud Hassan, were acquitted. Sources confirm that the police used batons and tear gas to disperse a protest staged by IRA members against the conviction.
