A Mauritanian court has upheld a two-year prison sentence against three anti-slavery activists who were arrested during a protest against bondage in the west African nation.
But sources said one of the accused, Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, on Wednesday vowed to continue his fight against slavery and appealed for the United States and European Union to put pressure on Mauritania to act against the practice, including stopping financial aid.
According to Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid "From my dark cell I urge them to mobilise all legal and diplomatic means, including the suspension of all financial aid, to push the government to take real action to eradicate slavery as well as the racism and exclusion underlying it."
Abeid, a runner-up in the 2014 presidential elections and head of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), was jailed in January alongside two other activists.
The sources recalled that the three activists were arrested in November last year while protesting slavery and were found guilty of "belonging to an illegal organisation, leading an unauthorised rally, and violence against the police".
The two others convicted were Bilal Ramdane, an assistant to Ould Abeid, and Djiby Sow, a civic and cultural rights campaigner, but Sow has since been released on parole due to health problems.
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