Mauritanian Lawmakers Sentenced to Prison After Accusing Justice System of Racial Bias

Author: Christine Savino

May 13, 2026

HRRC condemns the sentencing of two Mauritanian opposition lawmakers to four years in prison after they criticised President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani and alleged racial bias within the country’s justice system. We stand by the right for Mauritanians to speak freely without fear of persecution.

Hundreds of young people gathered March 18th outside the parliament in Nouakchott. [Image credit: Mohamed Wedoud via  Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0]

On May 4th, Mauritanian opposition lawmakers Ghamou Achour and Marieme Cheikh Dieng were sentenced to four years imprisonment by a criminal court in Nouakchott, according to lawyers who confirmed the verdict to the Associated Press. They were immediately ordered into custody following the judgement.

Achour and Dieng, lawmakers affiliated with anti-slavery and anti-discrimination advocacy, were  charged for social media posts criticizing President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani and alleging that Mauritania’s Arab-dominated justice system treats Black citizens and descendants of enslaved people as second-class citizens.

Prosecutors accused them of “attacking the symbols of the state” and “calling for gatherings…to undermine public security.”

The case is legally notable because both women are members of Parliament. Article 50 of Mauritania’s Constitution provides that parliamentarians may not be prosecuted, arrested, detained, or tried for opinions or votes expressed in the exercise of their functions, though it recognizes an exception for “flagrante delicto,” a legal term that means “caught in the act.”

Prosecutors argued that Achour and Dieng were not protected under parliamentary immunity due to the “flagrante delicto” exception, an argument their lawyers rejected as politically motivated.

The verdict comes against the backdrop of Mauritania’s long-running struggle over slavery, racial hierarchy, and repression of anti-discrimination activism. Human Rights Watch has stated that “repressive laws” have been used “to prosecute and jail human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and bloggers,” while also noting that slavery “has not been eliminated” despite repeated legal prohibitions.

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Glossary 

• Descent-based slavery — A form of slavery in which a person is born into a social status treated as enslaved because their ancestors were enslaved

• Flagrante delicto — A legal term meaning a person is caught in the act; Mauritania’s Constitution uses this as an exception to some parliamentary-immunity protections

• Freedom of expression — The right to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, protected under Article 19 of the ICCPR

• Second-Class Citizens — A non-technical term describing people who formally belong to a state but are treated as inferior or less entitled to equal protection, political voice, justice, or social standing. The broader context is supported by UN reporting that Haratine communities remain politically and economically marginalised in a society stratified by ethnicity, descent, caste, and class.

• Parliamentary immunity — Legal protection shielding legislators from certain prosecutions, arrests, or trials connected to their official opinions or votes

• Racial Hierarchy — A social order in which groups are ranked unequally by race, ethnicity, descent, caste, or inherited social status.

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Sources

1. Associated Press. (2026). Mauritania lawmakers sentenced to 4 years after insulting president over racial bias claims. Accessed at https://apnews.com/article/mauritania-lawmakers-sentenced-51ac1ad0b0b8bd87ef17d530e97df2a4

2. Associated Press. (2026). Mauritania lawmakers are charged with insulting president over racial bias claims. Accessed at https://apnews.com/article/mauritania-lawmakers-arrest-president-slavery-ccbadad53f1a7ae197b927dcb9ad314c

3. Agence Mauritanienne d’Information. (2026). Le parquet révèle les circonstances de l’interpellation de deux députés après des faits qualifiés d’infractions pénalement répréhensibles. Accessed at https://ami.mr/fr/archives/292973

4. El Hourriya. (2026). على خلفية توقيف النائبتيْن مريم الشيخ وقامو عاشور.. النيابة تؤكد: حالة التلبس ترفع الحصانة وتُجيز المتابعة [On the arrest of MPs Marieme Cheikh and Ghamou Achour: the prosecution says flagrante delicto lifts immunity and permits proceedings]. Accessed at https://elhourriya.net/?p=141531

5. Constitute Project. (2012). Mauritania 1991 Constitution with Amendments through 2012. Accessed at https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Mauritania_2012

6. Human Rights Watch. (2018). Ethnicity, Discrimination, and Other Red Lines: Repression of Human Rights Defenders in Mauritania. Accessed at https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/02/12/ethnicity-discrimination-and-other-red-lines/repression-human-rights-defenders

7. Amnesty International. (2018). “A Sword Hanging Over Our Heads”: The Repression of Activists Speaking Out Against Discrimination and Slavery in Mauritania. Accessed at https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr38/7812/2018/en/

8. Walk Free. (2023). Modern Slavery in Mauritania: Global Slavery Index 2023 Country Snapshot. Accessed at https://cdn.walkfree.org/content/uploads/2023/09/28082229/GSI-Snapshot-Mauritania.pdf

9. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (1966). International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Accessed at https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights

10. United Nations Human Rights Committee. (2011). General Comment No. 34: Article 19 — Freedoms of Opinion and Expression. Accessed at https://docs.un.org/en/ccpr/c/gc/34