IRA-USA Wins Funding for Consortium with AFCF and AMDH

We are proud to announce the Consortium with Association Femmes Chef de Famille (AFCF) and Association Mauritanienne des Droits de l’Homme (AMDH) has secured $100,000 funding for a Mauritanian program to train paralegals, staff legal aid clinics, run human rights seminars, and organize civil society engagement in statutory reform.

Our program offers legal assistance to […]

Slavery Opponents’ Final Appeal

IRA Mauritanie has announced that the Lawyers Collective for the Defense of Biram Dah Abeid, Brahim Bilal Ramdane and Djiby Sow have filed the final appeal for unjust imprisonment. January 16, 2015, Mr. Abeid, Ramdane and Sow were sentenced to two years imprisonment and five years deprivation of basic civil rights. The men were convicted […]

Law Threatens Mauritanian Anti-Slavery Activists

Maina Kiai urges Mauritania to change its current draft of the law to protect civil liberties and human rights in Mauritania. Source: UNOHCRH

Continuing its crackdown of civil rights and freedoms, the Mauritanian government has proposed a law to further restrict the Mauritanian human rights organizations. The proposed law will impose a stringent […]

Anniversary of the Burning of Malikite Law Books

April 27th was the anniversary of the “Burning of the Books.” This is the day that Biram Dah Abeid publicly burned several Malikite legal texts because they contain legal interpretations that uphold and elaborate on slavery.

IRA Mauritanie held a commemoration of this bold action on the part of Biram. The public book burning lead […]

Saudi Grand Mosque Affair: IRA Members Sentenced to Jail Time

Brahim Jiddou, Yacoub Inalla, and Sabar Houssein were sentenced on March 19, 2015 for their protests in October of 2014 against a sermon by the imam of the Saudi Grand Mosque of Nouakchott.

Their arrest was precipitated by the Mufti’s attack ob Biram Dah Abeid, including calling for the murder of Biram and denouncing the […]

IRA Prisoners Freed

The criminal court in Nouakchott issued a verdict for those arrested following November 11 arrests for the anti-slavery Caravan in Rosso.

Mariem Mint Cehiek, Yacoub Moussa and Dr. Saad Ould Louleid were each given a one year suspended sentence for the crime of “belonging to a non-authorized organization.” This verdict conflicts with the January 15th […]