This update covers developments relating to the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression in Mauritania from 1st February 2026 to 24th April 2026.
GENERAL
Ongoing national dialogue; tensions over third presidential term
A national political dialogue is under way in Mauritania to tackle sensitive issues such as the consolidation of democracy, national languages, racial discrimination and slavery. In January 2026, consultations were initiated by President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, bringing together representatives of both the ruling majority and the opposition. The designated dialogue coordinator, Moussa Fall, presented a draft document outlining a preliminary organisational framework for the dialogue process. Tensions arose when certain members of the ruling party called for the issue of constitutional reform and term limits to be addressed as part of the national dialogue. Meetings resumed on 6th April 2026 to break the deadlock over the issue of presidential terms. A few groups, such as Biram Dah Abeid’s Refondation pour une action globale (RAG), have chosen to boycott the process they consider “biased” and “exclusionary”.
Opposition rallies blocked
A rally organised by the opposition party Alliance for Justice and Democracy (AJD) scheduled to take place on 11th February 2026 was blocked by the Government. The rally served to announce the launch of the Coalition for Peaceful Change 2029 (CAD), a new alliance bringing together several opposition parties and promoting a democratic alternative. According to the Media Foundation for West Africa, authorisation had reportedly been granted in advance, but was withdrawn just hours before the event by the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development, probably due to concerns about calls by bloggers encouraging mass participation. The organisers replaced the rally with a press conference.
In March 2026, the leader of the “Mauritania Forward” party, Noureddine Mouhamedou, stated that the authorities in the municipality of Tevrag-Zeina, in the Nouakchott-West province, had refused to grant permission for a protest rally that the party wanted to organise to denounce the government’s decision to raise fuel prices without providing sufficient justification.
Elected representatives and IRA members sent to prison for criticising the President
On 21st April 2026, two opposition MPs and members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), Mariem Sheikh and Ghamou Achour, were remanded in custody and sent to prison. They are being prosecuted for criticising the president and the government during live broadcasts on social media. They have been charged under Law No. 2016-007 of 20th January 2016 on cybercrime for “insults, defamation, and desecration of national symbols.” Whilst the public prosecutor’s office cites ‘flagrant délit’ to justify the lifting of their parliamentary immunity, the opposition condemns this as an authoritarian overreach and an attack on democracy. Mariem Sheikh is detained with her infant child. Her defence team noted that the father is barred from visiting her.
ASSEMBLY
IRA activists arrested and detained after denouncing alleged case of slavery
On 4th February 2026, members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) alleged that a young girl from the haratine community was being kept in domestic bondage by a couple in Nouakchott. They circulated videos showing the minor being subjected to forced labour. Following the denunciation, the authorities opened an investigation and the suspects were briefly taken into custody before being released. According to the prosecution’s statement, the evidence provided by the IRA initiative was fabricated and promoted by the whistleblowers themselves in illegal ways.
On 6th February 2026, during the interrogation of those suspected in the alleged slavery case, IRA activists gathered outside the Dar Naïm 2 police station in Nouakchott to demand that the investigations be conducted diligently and that the alleged victim be protected. The riot police intervened to disperse the gathering, using tear gas and batons, which resulted in the arrest of a number of participants, and several injuries among the protesters.
Warda Souleymane, a journalist and member of the IRA communication commission, published a statement on social networks denouncing the violence suffered by the protesters as well as the conditions of detention of some activists. Following a complaint by the High Authority of the Press and Audiovisual (HAPA) on 10th February 2026, she was summoned and arrested by the police and detained in the Nouakchott women’s prison, where she remains detained for alleged dissemination of false information. Two months later, the Public Prosecution issued a statement to announce that her arrest and detention were in fact due to the violation of the judicial control she was subject to. Her lawyers continue to denounce her detention as arbitrary.
On 13th February 2026, Lemrabet Mahmoud, head of the IRA section in Nouadhibou, denounced on social media the arrest of his colleague Warda Souleymane and called for the Haratin to stop hunting or mining gold and taking to the streets to ensure the application of the law. He was arrested in Nouadhibou following these statements and was charged with inciting racism on social media.
According to information compiled by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, on 16th February 2026, whistleblowers Lalla Vatma and Rachida Saleck and members of the IRA Abdallahi Abu Diop, Elhaj Elid, Bounass Hmeida, and Med Vadel Aleyatt were arrested after being summoned. The investigating judge of the court of Nouakchott North charged them for “disseminating false information” and “association of criminals” and placed them under warrant of deposit. The men were transferred to the Nouakchott Central Prison, and the two women were incarcerated in the Nouakchott Women’s Prison.
According to Al Akhbar, this is the list of IRA activists detained:
- Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the Movement Abdullah Abu Diop;
- Coordinator of the Movement in South Nouakchott, Bonas Ahmed;
- Head of the Political Bureau in Jigni (Combi Saleh), Mohamed Fadel Alayat;
- The owner of the video from the child, Lala Fatima;
- The cousin of the head of the office of Combi Saleh, Rashida Mint Al-Sik;
- Movement activist Warda Ahmed Al-Sulaiman;
- Head of the Movement Office in Nouadhibou, Lamrabott Mahmoud Addo;
- General Coordinator of the IRA movement, Hajj Eid.
Supporters of the IRA organised various protests to demand their members’ release: On 23rd February 2026, they held a protest outside the Palace of Justice in Nouadhibou. On 24th February 2026, women of the IRA movement organised a protest in front of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nouakchott, condemning the imprisonment of activists from the movement. The participants held banners reading: “No to slavery, no to suppressing whistleblowers of slavery”. On 5th March 2026, a number of supporters of the IRA held a protest in front of the courthouse in Nouadhibou to demand the release of the movement’s local office president, Lemrabott Mahmoud, during his trial. On 2nd April 2026, supporters protested in front of the prison of Nouakchott and on 9th April in front of the building of the Palace of Justice in the city of Nouadhibou.
Oppositions parties, such as the “anti-system coalition” or the Coalition for Democratic Alternation (CAD2029), also called for the release of IRA activists, condemning what is described as “a campaign of arrests and repression targeting peaceful activists”. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders also strongly condemned these arrests.
The invocation of offences such as the “dissemination of false information” or the “criminal association” in order to punish the reporting of serious human rights violations raises serious concerns about the possibility of defenders continuing their activities without reprisal, and in this regard contravenes the provisions contained in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders
- Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
On 5th March 2026, the Criminal Court in Nouadhibou issued a suspended prison sentence of one year against Lemrabott Mahmoud.
Police intervention against protesters denouncing fuel prices
Mauritania, a net importer of refined hydrocarbons, is facing a sharp rise in prices due to the war in the Gulf. On 4th April 2026, domestic gas distributors protested in front of the headquarters of Soma Gas in Nouakchott, rejecting the new price of domestic gas.
On 5th April 2026, a march organised by the Party for the Renewal of the Democratic Movement (PRMD) to denounce rising fuel and domestic gas prices was dispersed by the police using batons and tear gas. Units of riot police had been deployed near government buildings. According to CRIDEM, the police intervention led to the arrest of about 60 protesters, including the party leader, Yacoub Ould Lemrabott. According to the news agency Al Akhbar, the police assaulted the journalist Mohsen Mustafa, and confiscated his broadcasting equipment and personal phone, thereby halting his live coverage.
The police intervention was condemned by MPs, the Mauritanian Observatory for Human Rights and various political parties and organisations.
The next day, some activists held a protest in the city of Zoueirat in front of the buildings of the state of Tiris Zemmour, to demand a reduction in the prices of fuel and domestic gas.
Students’ protest
On 9th February 2026, the National Union of Mauritanian Students protested before the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to oppose the criteria for the awarding of new grants, as well as the delay in the payment of financial grants to new and old students and the lack of university housing for new students.
On 13th March 2026, the National Union of Mauritanian Students protested in front of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Nouakchott to oppose the suspension of hundreds of student scholarships during the academic year and demanded a review of standards and equity for affected students.
Workers’ protests
On 10th February 2026, the Union of Social Work Professionals protested in front of the Ministry of Social Work, Childhood and Family, to demand the benefit of some bonuses. On 26th February 2026, they protested in front of the presidential palace in Nouakchott, to demand the intervention of the President towards concerned authorities regarding their salaries.
On 27th February and 3rd April 2026, workers of the Chinese company Polly Hondong protested in Nouadhibou against the company’s decision to reschedule shifts and cancel meals and for not providing transportation for workers.
On 13th March 2026, public media workers began a sit-in outside the Ministry of Culture in Nouakchott (Nouakchott, Tevragh-Zeina), protesting salary deductions following their formalisation and demanding wage adjustments and restitution of withheld pay.
On 19th March 2026, workers at the Centre for Children in Conflict with the Law staged a protest in Nouadhibou demanding payment of up to 21 months of unpaid salaries and urgent intervention by national authorities.
Traders’ protests
- On 3rd February 2026, phone merchants entered a new strike in Nouadhibou to oppose the imposition of a 30% tax on phones. In March, the merchants demonstrated in Noaukchott and then in Nouadhibou against the customs imposed on phones. According to them, this measure – on which they were not consulted – will cause youth unemployment.
- On 11th February 2026, women working in the second-hand clothing trade protested in front of the headquarters of the state of Inkhlat Nouadhibou, to demand the administrative authorities provide them with decent places to work as the women usually display their goods on the sidewalks.
ASSOCIATION
Suspension of cultural festivals due to rising fuel prices
On 26th March 2026, the Government announced the suspension of all artistic and cultural festivals scheduled to take place in the inland provinces “until conditions conducive to their organisation are in place”. This decision, announced by the Ministry of Culture, Arts, Communication and Relations with Parliament, is motivated by the geopolitical context and rising fuel prices. Festivals require the mobilisation of transport resources and have been suspended in an effort to rationalise expenditure.
Students strike organisers referred to Public Prosecutor
On 2nd March 2026, eight students from the Higher Institute of Industrial Engineering (ISGI) were referred to the public prosecutor in Nouakchott, following a complaint by the administration of the Higher Institute after a peaceful strike lasting over a month.
Students had started a strike on 29th January 2026 to protest against the exclusion of certain students from exams. They blocked the main entrance, and police were called to intervene and to open the door peacefully before the exams began. The school had stated in a press release that, under the school’s internal regulations, any student whose absence rate exceeds 25% of the time allocated to a particular subject is barred from sitting the first-term exams, whilst retaining the right to sit resit exams.
The Geneva-based NGP Committee for Justice condemned this referral, finding that it “sets a dangerous precedent aimed at ‘militarising’ academic institutions and turning legitimate demands into security and criminal cases.” The Committee for Justice called on the judicial authorities to drop the case immediately and release the eight students unconditionally, and called on the institute’s administration to return to the negotiating table.
EXPRESSION
Anti-corruption activist acquitted of most charges against him
On 13th December 2025, Mohamed Ould Ghadda, President of the Organization for Inclusive Transparency (OTI), was arrested at his home 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 had pocketed bribes in a multi-million euro project.
On 16th March 2026, the Court of Nouakchott West acquitted him of the charges of spreading false information online, undermining judicial decisions, obstructing the administration of justice and insulting public officials and law enforcement officers. The Public Prosecutor appealed.
On 22nd April 2026, the Court of Appeal in Nouakchott confirmed the judgment of the lower court regarding three charges but convicted Ould Ghadda of undermining judicial decisions. He was sentenced to three months of imprisonment, suspended.
Journalists attacked while covering a protest
On 16th April 2026, a protest march sparked by the rising cost of living, restrictions on civil liberties and the arrest of two opposition MPs was organised by the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA). The protest was quickly dispersed by security forces. According to sources close to the movement, dozens of demonstrators were reportedly arrested during the operation.
According to Reporters Without Borders, at least four cases of violence against journalists were documented that day. Mohamed Abdallahi Moustapha, a photojournalist for Al Akhbar, was surrounded, struck repeatedly, and had his camera and microphone confiscated. The week before, his personal phone and his agency’s phone had already been confiscated during another protest (see above). Sahara 24 journalist Fatimatou Snabou and her two colleagues were detained despite clearly identifying themselves; their cameraman was injured in the knee and their equipment seized before they were held at the police station without any official reason.
In October 2025, Mauritania officially pledged to Reporters Without Borders, through the Minister of Culture and Government Spokesperson, to support the Declaration of the Right to Information in the Sahel Region and in particular to put an end to the physical assault on journalists and ensure their freedom to cover social mobility.
The Free Syndicate of Press Workers condemned what it described as a "repressive attack" against media crews on duty.
Deductions from public media workers’ salaries denounced as excessive
In February 2026, the Free Union of Press Workers denounced the deductions applied to the salaries of public media workers. The Union complained the deductions exceeded prior agreements reached with the Minister of Culture and his Secretary General, calling the move “a reneging on official commitments”.