This update covers developments relating to the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression in Mauritania from 25th October 2025 to 31st January 2026.
GENERAL
Fourth UPR: civic space recommendations
On 20th January 2026, the fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Mauritania took place before the UN Human Rights Council. Mauritania received 271 recommendations from UN Member States on various issues including torture and other ill-treatment in detention and the right to truth for past violations. The following civic space recommendations were made:
A report produced by the main UN agencies operating in Mauritania (UNFPA, UNICEF, OHCHR, UNDP, WFP, UNODC, UNHCR, IOM, ILO, UN Women, etc.) in line with the United Nations Cooperation Framework for Sustainable Development, noted that “significant progress has been made” in recent years in promoting fundamental freedoms, notably through a more open political discourse and initiatives to foster dialogue with civil society actors. However, according to these UN agencies, advances remain fragile and uneven with regard to freedom of expression and civic space. The adoption of Law No. 2020-015 on combating the manipulation of information, as well as Law No. 2021-021 on the protection of national symbols and the criminalisation of offences against the authority of the State and the honour of citizens, can potentially restrict critical expression and criminalise legitimate opinions.
States made seven recommendations concerning the right to freedom of expression. Mexico and Estonia urged Mauritania to decriminalise defamation and to reform the Criminal Code and other legislation in order to end the criminalisation of peaceful expression. Germany and Chile emphasised the need to strengthen protection for journalists, human rights defenders, activists and bloggers. The MENA Rights Group urged a reform of the Penal Code and other legislation containing vaguely defined offences in order to end the criminalisation of acts of peaceful expression and recommended to maintain internet access during election periods and final exam sessions. Estonia echoed this last recommendation.
Regarding freedom of association, the National Human Rights Commission of Mauritania encouraged Mauritania to facilitate the organisation of peaceful demonstrations and train law enforcement officers to respect the rights of demonstrators.
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed its concern over reports that human rights defenders carried out their activities under restrictive conditions and were often exposed to various forms of harassment or reprisals. The Committee was also concerned that legal provisions such as Act No. 2021-021 of 2 December 2021 “protecting national symbols and criminalising acts against the State’s authority and citizens’ honour” could be used to arbitrarily restrict the activities of human rights defenders and recommended the adoption of the bill on protecting human rights defenders.
EXPRESSION
Arrest of anti-slavery activist after social media posts calling for mobilisation
On 31st October 2025, Warda Ahmed Souleymane, a journalist and member of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), was arrested in Nouakchott by Mauritanian police. A few days earlier, Warda Ahmed Souleymane had participated in the 85th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul, during which she reportedly made statements critical of the Mauritanian authorities. She was released under judicial supervision on 6th November 2025.
She is accused of having posted, on social media, a call for citizens to mobilise peacefully against the excesses of the government. Warda Ahmed Souleymane was brought to an undisclosed place of detention. She had already been detained from 1st to 17th April 2025 for expressing critical opinions.
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation and the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement condemned the arrest and called for an impartial investigation into her arrest, and for an end to state-sponsored intimidation targeting activists.
Arrest of anti-corruption activist
On 13th December 2025, Mohamed Ould Ghadda, President of the Organisation for Inclusive Transparency (OTI), was arrested at his home by police officers in civilian clothes after announcing that he had evidence of bribery in a case prosecutors had dismissed. Ould Ghadda had criticised the Nouakchott West Prosecutor’s Office for closing an investigation into his organisation’s allegations that three Mauritanian officials pocketed bribes in a multi-million-euro project.
According to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, the investigation in question found that a consortium of three companies largely failed to deliver infrastructure meant to supply drinking water to hundreds of villages. The Organisation for Inclusive Transparency concluded that water was “unavailable at the vast majority of public taps” due to cost-cutting and substandard work that did not meet specifications. One of the companies, BIS-TP5, sued Ould Ghadda for defamation and spreading false information.
The arrest of Ould Ghadda was denounced by opposition lawmakers, the Kafana movement and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, that called for his release.
We believe that this arrest cannot be disassociated from a worrying context marked by the surveillance of whistleblowers and the suppression of free voices while the genuinely corrupt escape accountability and sensitive files are hastily dismissed without being thoroughly investigated
- five opposition lawmakers
ASSEMBLY
Unauthorised Inal massacre commemorations lead to arrests of activists
For the past 35 years, every 28th November, some Mauritanians have been calling for truth and justice to be done for the 28 soldiers who were hanged on the night of 27–28 November 1990 in Inal, on the anniversary of their country’s independence.
On 28th November 2025, people commemorated the Inal massacre in Nouackchott, Bababé, Maghama and Djeol. During these commemorations, twenty people were arrested in Nouakchott as they were about to start a march from the Sabah roundabout to the city centre. According to the BBC, those arrested included: Dieynaba N’diom, journalist Kaaw Lô, Baalal Maïmouna Sall, Jemila Ahmed, Hawa Diallo, Moctar Keita, Moussa Soumaré, Abdallah Ould Mohamed Mahmoud and Moussa Thiam. Dieynaba N’Diom is a sociologist and grants officer for the Pananetugri Initiative for Women’s Well-being (IPBF), who came to offer her support to the widows. Kaaw Lô, Jemila Ahmed and Haha Diallo are IRA activists. Some were released the same day, but others were held until 5th December 2025. The judge charged them with “disturbing public order and participating in an unauthorised demonstration.” The three women were released on bail, with the obligation to remain at the disposal of the public prosecutor’s office, whilst the three men were placed under judicial supervision, with a ban on leaving Nouakchott. The World Organisation Against Torture urged the Mauritanian authorities to guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical safety and psychological well-being of the arrested human rights defenders, and to put an end to all acts of harassment against them, including through the judicial system.
In the town of Bababé more than a dozen gendarmerie pick-up trucks were present. The gendarmerie raided the house of the artist Toma Diallo and arrested two people. Shortly afterwards, Alpha Oumar Ball, known as Balo, a municipal councillor in Bababé, was also arrested.
IRA protests in solidarity with imprisoned member
On 15th January 2026, a number of members of the IRA protested in front of the Palace of Justice in Nouakchott, expressing solidarity with the leader of the movement, Youssef Kamra, and coinciding with his trial months after his arrest.
Youssef Camara is a whistleblower and IRA activist. He was arrested at his home on 17 September 2025 by plainclothes police officers without a warrant. The day before, during a meeting of activists, he had denounced, in a video posted on TikTok, police brutality and racially motivated arrests and detentions.
After his arrest, he spent six days in solitary confinement before being transferred to the Nouakchott Civil Prison. According to the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an investigating judge from Chamber No. 1 of the Nouakchott Court charged him with ‘incitement to hatred and violence’, ‘misuse of databases’ and ‘discrimination’… in accordance with the provisions of Articles 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17 of Law 2018-025 of 2018 on discrimination, and Articles 2, 3, 7, 22, 23 and 24 of Law No. 2016-007 of 20 January 2016 on Cybercrime.
Peaceful protests
- On 7th January 2026, several people protested in front of the Ministry of Health in Nouakchott to demand better health services and equipment at the Hamad Medical Hospital in the city.
- On 9th January 2026, students of the Vocational and Technical Training School for Mining, Oil, and Gas held a protest sit-in and study strike in Nouakchott to denounce their learning conditions following their transfer to a new campus, which was carried out without taking their basic needs into account.
- On 23rd January 2026, a number of workers of the Chinese company Poly Hondong held a protest in front of the wilaya headquarters in Nouadhibou to reject what they described as arbitrary disciplinary sanctions and the non-implementation of a prior agreement.
- On 29th January 2026, the Union of technical and vocational training teachers protested in front of the Ministry for Vocational Training, Traditional Industry and Crafts demanding housing and the implementation of demands previously submitted, such as payment of a danger premium for the nature of work in workshops.
ASSOCIATION
Trade unions denounce pressure to favour a ‘regime trade union’ during elections
In late October 2025, six trade union confederations and unions condemned what they described as “pressure and threats” exerted on workers since the start of trade union elections across the country, in both the public and private sectors, accusing certain officials from public and private institutions of abusing their influence to sway workers’ choices. In a joint statement, the trade union federations condemned a circular from the Insaf party calling on its MPs to support the Union of Mauritanian Workers (UTM) as the “regime’s trade union”, and the fact that this statement had been reported in the press. They urged officials within the civil service to demonstrate impartiality.