Amnesty International Report 2015/16 - Mauritania

Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Head of state: Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
Head of government: Yahya Ould Hademine

Three anti-slavery activists were imprisoned and a blogger received a death sentence for apostasy, as restrictions on freedoms of expression and assembly increased; a new law on civil society associations further threatened these freedoms. Conditions of detention remained harsh, while the practice of torture and other ill-treatment was widespread, with long periods of police custody allowed by anti-terrorist legislation. New laws defined torture and slavery as crimes against humanity and strengthened measures to combat them.

BACKGROUND

In November, Mauritania's human rights record was investigated under the UPR.[1] Mauritania adopted more than 136 recommendations, including the establishment of a national mechanism to combat torture. It rejected 58 recommendations, including the abolition of the death penalty and removing the crime of apostasy from legislation.

FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION, ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION

Freedoms of expression and assembly were curtailed, which led to the detention of prisoners of conscience.

In December 2014, Mohamed Mkhaïtir, a blogger who was held in pre-trial detention for almost a year, was sentenced to death for apostasy at the Nouadhibou Court in northwest Mauritania. He had written a blog criticizing the use of religion to marginalize certain groups in society, and was still in detention at the end of 2015.[2]

In January, the Rosso Court in southern Mauritania sentenced Brahim Bilal Ramdane, Djiby Sow and Biram Dah Abeid, a former presidential candidate and president of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement in Mauritania, to two years in prison for belonging to an unrecognized organization, participating in an unauthorized assembly and assaulting security officers. The three activists were arrested in November 2014 with other protesters while campaigning against slavery and raising awareness among the local population of the land rights of people of slave descent. Their sentences were upheld by the Appeal Court of Aleg in August 2015.[3]

In August, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association called on the National Assembly to reject a draft law on civil society associations that had been approved by the Council of Ministers without public consultation.

In November, retired colonel Oumar Ould Beibacar was arrested at a political rally in the capital Nouakchott, during which he spoke of the extrajudicial execution of military officers in the 1990s. He was detained at the Nouakchott Directorate for National Security and released six days later but remained under judicial supervision.

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT

Prisoners suspected of belonging to al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the armed group Islamic State (IS), as well as women and children, were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. These practices were routinely used to extract "confessions" and punish and humiliate suspects. The use of torture and other ill-treatment was also facilitated by the 2010 anti-terrorist law, which allowed for detainees suspected of terrorist acts to be held in police custody for up to 45 days. This limit was regularly exceeded, including by more than a year in one case.

One prisoner in the Nouakchott civil prison, arrested in April 2015 and accused of belonging to IS, was allegedly tortured while in pre-trial detention. His eyes were blindfolded, and he was handcuffed, punched, and beaten with batons. After seven days he said he was forced to sign a "confession". He alleged torture at his hearing in June 2015, but was ignored and convicted. There has been no investigation into his allegations.

One woman was allegedly tortured in pre-trial detention, where she said officers tore her clothes and slapped her to force a confession. After her trial, she was taken out of prison and brought to a police station where she was again beaten. The prison authorities saw the bruising on her body upon her return and the case was brought to the attention of the public prosecutor.

Children were also beaten in both pre-trial detention and in prison, where they shared a courtyard with adults. One of them reported being handcuffed and beaten for four days so he would confess. Other reported torture methods included being whipped with cables, suspended from the ceiling and having water poured into the nostrils.

Prisoners in the Salahdine prison reported that they were never allowed to practise any exercise in the courtyard and that the water given to them was dirty, making some of them ill.

In August, new laws defined torture as a crime against humanity, prohibited secret detention and created a national body with a mandate to investigate detention centres at any time.

ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES

In February, Khadim Ould Semen, Mohamed Ould Cbih and Mohamed Khaled Ould Ahmed, three prisoners sentenced to death for a shooting at Tourine, were victims of enforced disappearance. They were part of a sit-in organized in prison after a prisoner was not released on the due date. Prison authorities reported that violence occurred during the sit-in. The prison guards fired tear gas canisters and beat the prisoners with batons before taking the three men away, who have not been seen since. In July, the Minister of Justice said that he was unable to clarify their whereabouts and that a delegation would be allowed to visit them in October, after the adoption of the law on torture. They remained disappeared at the end of the year.

The authorities have still not opened an investigation into the cases of 14 men convicted of terrorism-related offences, who were victims of enforced disappearance in 2011. They were held in harsh conditions in Salahdine prison, where one of them died in May 2014; the remaining 13 were transferred to Nouakchott central prison in May and July 2014.

SLAVERY

In August, a new law was adopted against slavery (amending the 2007 law), defining slavery as a crime against humanity, doubling the prison term for offenders and defining 10 types of slavery, including forced marriage.

In December, two people were placed in detention and charged with acts of slavery.

DEATH PENALTY

Although no executions were carried out in over 20 years and in spite of a de facto moratorium, death sentences continued to be imposed. In July, two men were sentenced to death after being convicted of the rape of a young girl. In December, one person who had been sentenced to death for terrorist acts escaped from the Nouakchott central prison.

[1] Mauritania: Actions speak louder than words: Amnesty International submission to the Universal Periodic Review, November 2015 (AFR 38/1813/2015)

[2] Mauritania must immediately release Mohamed Mkhaïtir, blogger sentenced to death for apostasy (AFR 38/0002/2015)

[3] Mauritania must immediately release jailed anti-slavery activists and human rights defenders (AFR 38/0001/2015); Mauritania: Anti-slavery activist's harsh sentence upheld on appeal (News story, 20 August)