Mauritania

Mauritania broadens death penalty for blasphemy

Nouakchott - Showing repentance will no longer prevent the death penalty from being applied for blasphemy and apostasy, Mauritania said on Friday, as the conservative Muslim nation hardens up its religious laws.

The decision follows the release on November 9 of a blogger previously condemned to death for criticising religious justification for discrimination in Mauritanian society.

الحقوقية الموريتانية آمنة منت المختار : من حق المرأة المسلمة أن تتساوى مع الرجل في الميراث

تقرير: التار ولد أحمده

نواكشوط (CNN)-- يرتبط اسم "آمنة منت المختار" لدي الموريتانيين بالتضحية والنضال والوقوف مع الضعفاء والمظلومين، فنصف قرن من الزمن من التعاطي والاهتمام بمشاكل الفقراء وقضاياهم كانت فترة كافية لتجعل منها أيقونة النضال النسوي في بلادها.

نشطت آمنة في كل القضايا الإنسانية العادلة، سواء الاجتماعية أو السياسية، أو الاقتصادية، فكانت تؤازر كل مضطهد وتقف مع كل مظلوم، وفي سبيل ذلك واجهت أصناف التضييق وأنواع القمع و التنكيل وفي بعض الأحيان السجن، ممّا دفع عدة منظمات حقوقية إلى الإشادة بها.

Mauritanie: Déclaration de soutien à Aminettou Mint el Moctar

La Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l'Homme (RADDHO) organisait, le 31 décembre 2014, une Conférence de presse pour rendre compte de la situation des Droits humains en Mauritanie, suite à l'arrestation et à la détention arbitraires de Biram Dah Abeid, Président de l'Initiative pour la Résurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste (IRA) et de huit (8) autres défenseurs des droits humains. La conférence a eu lieu en présence de deux membres du mouvement. Fatou Sow, Directrice internationale et Codou Bop, membre du Bureau de WLUML ont participé à la conférence pour dénoncer la fatwa qui pèse sur Aminettou Mint El-Moctar, présidente de lAssociation des Femmes chefs de famille.

Statement in Support of Aminettou Mint El-Moctar

On December 31st, 2014 the African Assembly for the Defence of Human Rights (RADDHO) organized a press conference to review the situation of human rights in Mauritania, further to the arrest and detention of Biram Dah Abeid, President of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) and eight other human rights defenders. The conference took place in the presence of two members of the WLUML network Fatou Sow (International Director) and Codou Bop (Board member). They participated at the conference to denounce the fatwa against Aminettou Mint El-Moctar, president of the Association of the Women heads of the family. The following statment was delivered to the conference.

French version here

A death sentence was issued in June 2014, against Ms. Aminettou Mint El Moctar, president of the Association of Women-Headed Households (AFCF) in Nouakchott. This was not an act of the Mauritanian justice system, but a fatwa from Yadhih Ould Dahi, the leader of a radical Islamist movement, Ahbab Errassoul. This fatwa was relayed in many mosques in the country and in the media, which resulted in violent threats against Ms. Mint El Moctar. The judicial authorities refused to accept the complaint she tried to file against the religious leader. The pressure on Ms. Mint El Moctar remains very strong.

Mapping Stoning in Muslim Contexts

Women Living Under Muslim Laws, the Violence is not our Culture Campaign, and Justice for Iran are pleased to announce the release of a new publication: Mapping Stoning in Muslim Contexts. This report locates where the punishment of stoning is still in practice, either through judicial (codified as law) or extrajudicial (outside the law) methods.

West Africa: 'Mauritanian Muslim imams initiate rare ban on female circumcision'

DAKAR - Human rights campaigners who have been struggling for years to eliminate female genital mutilation (FGM) in West Africa got a boost this week as news emerged that a group of Muslim clerics and scholars in Mauritania had declared a fatwa, or religious decree, against the practice.

CI-AF Mauritanie (AMPTSFE)

Address: BP 3772, Nouakchott

Tel. (+222)-525 38 60; (+222)-525 71 89 (direct line)

Fax: (+222)-525 13 85

Contact: Mme Mariame Baba Sy

Mauritanie: Une femme en Mauritanie condamnée à six mois de prison pour esclavagisme

APA – Nouakchott (Mauritanie) Une femme mauritanienne, Oumoulmoumnine Mint Bakar Vall, a été condamnée dimanche par la Chambre des mineurs au Tribunal de Nouakchott à 6 mois de prison ferme pour esclavagisme, a constaté APA sur place.

Mint Bakar Vall était jugée depuis mardi dernier pour avoir exploité deux filles haratines (descendants d’esclavages), âgées de 14 et de 10 ans.

Mauritania: Rape victims fear being jailed for 'zina'

Mahjouba was raped in March on the nighttime streets of Mauritania's capital, but she will not bring charges against the man she says did it since she may be the one who ends up in prison. The 25-year-old says the legal advice she received was to not go to court, leaving her to suffer in silence. There is no law in Mauritania that defines rape. According to a local U.N.-funded group working with the victims, the law criminalizes the women instead of their rapists -- and society ostracizes the women.

Afrique: Déclaration du Caucus des Femmes Africaines à la 54ème Session de la Commission sur le Statut de la Femme

Nous représentantes de diverses organisations de la Société Civile Africaine réunies au Forum Mondial pour la Revue de Beijing 15 ans après et représentant les voix des millions de femmes et jeunes filles Africaines, Apres avoir eu des consultations avec différents acteurs avant et pendant le Forum Mondial des ONG sur les progrès enregistrés dans la mise en œuvre de le Déclaration et la Plate Forme d’Action de Beijing en Afrique,