Mauritanian MPs Charged Over Racism Claims Against President
Last update: April 25, 2026
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Case raises concerns over free speech, parliamentary immunity, and lingering slavery issues.
Two opposition members of Mauritania’s parliament have been charged after accusing the country’s president of racial discrimination against Black communities and descendants of enslaved people, a human rights group said on Friday.
Prosecutors said Mariem Cheikh Dieng and Ghamou Achour are also facing charges of undermining national symbols and spreading what authorities describe as racist remarks on social media.
The two women, who are also members of an anti slavery organisation, have been in custody since April 9. They appeared in court in the capital, Nouakchott, on Monday accused of incitement to hatred, despite holding parliamentary immunity.
They are accused of describing President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani as the mentor of apartheid in Mauritania.
Slavery was officially abolished in Mauritania in 1981, but it continues to persist and remains a highly sensitive issue, even after tougher penalties were introduced in 2015.
Opposition blocs in parliament condemned the arrests, calling them a flagrant violation of parliamentary immunity.
The head of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement, the group to which the two lawmakers belong, has called for their immediate release from detention.
