Activism: Head of Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA)
Country: Mauritania
Current State: Serving two years in jail
Accusations: Joining an unlicensed organization, and disturbing public peace
Mauritania is among those countries that still suffering from vestiges of slavery, which was officially quashed since three decades. Biram Dah Abeid is one of the most important defender of former slaves’ rights, as he headed the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement, aka IRA, to counter slavery. Obeid utilizes his great knowledge of principles of Islamic jurisprudence in refuting allegations and arguments of slavery’s supporters.
· Biram Dah Abeid is a human rights activist who was born in Trarza Region in 1969. He hails from a poor family that belongs to the former slaves’ fine.
· He is a professor of public law, and has Master of Advanced Studies in public law from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal.
· Dah Abeid won, in 2011, a human rights award from the government of the German city of Weimar owing to anti-slavery in Mauritania activism as well as his inexhaustible efforts towards facing problems.
· He was an activist at “Al-Hor” Movement to counter slavery. He joined the Union of Democratic Forces Party, then he rebelled against the Mauritanian parties and political movements; accusing them of establishing class differences, and overlooking injustice that Haratines (former slaves) are experiencing, as well as the marginalized segments.
· In January 2011, Biram Dah Abeid along with 5 members of IRA received sentences for allegedly insulting a police officer during anti-slavery demonstration. In June 2010, IRA submitted a demand to be registered, but it was met with no reply by the authorities.
· In April 2012, Abeid and some figures of his movement were arrested over a charge of violating sanctities after torching a set of books of Fiqh according to the Maliki school of Fiqh (a school of Islamic thought), as they establish the slave trade and allow slavery, according to the movement’s vision. They were temporarily released in September 2012.
· In November 2014, Abeid, his deputy Brahim Bilal Ramdhane, and other two members of the movement, who had headed a rights campaign against what the Mauritanian rights activists call “properties slavery”, were arrested following violent confrontations between police and supporters of IRA-Mauritania near the village of Alchukarh, at the entrance of Rosso. As a consequence, two persons were wounded, while others were arrested; some of them belong to security forces, and others belong to IRA.
· Mauritanian judicial authorities have accused Abeid and his fellows of heading an unlicensed organization, and destabilizing the country’s stability.
· In January 2015, he was sentenced to 2 years in prison, and the appeal court confirmed the same verdict in August 2015.
· IRA movement and its supporters organize numerous events to demand the release of Abeid, but Mauritanian security forces always address the events violently.
What can you do:
You can send appeals to release Biram Dah Abeid via..
Official website of Islamic Republic of Mauritania
http://www.mauritania.mr/
Send to Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Mauritania
http://www.primature.gov.mr/
Mauritania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
Email: info@maec.gov.mr
Website: http://www.diplomatie-mr.com/
Send to Senate of Islamic Republic of Mauritania
http://www.senat.mr/home.php?
National Commission for Human Rights of Islamic Republic of Mauritania
E-mail: presidente@cndhmauritanie.mr
Telephone: +222 4525 26 36
Fax: +222 4525 26 23
http://www.cndhmauritanie.mr/