Ahead of International Civil Rights Day, Genocide Survivors Demand Justice
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Columbus - Ahead of International Human Rights Day on December 10, human rights defenders with the Mauritanian Network for Human Rights in US, Progressive Forces of Change (Columbus Chapter), and Mauritanian Orphans’ Alliance documented the Mauritanian government’s ongoing persecution of Black Mauritanians in a webinar for members of the media and lawyers, including:
Decades of intimidation against the surviving family members of Black soldiers killed at the Inal torture camp; we heard about threats made against widows and teargassing of homes, decades after the murders took place.
National strategies to erase Black people from the very fabric of society, ranging from removing their languages from official government and schools to deportations, denial of identity documents (statelessness), and landgrabbing to force migration.
Restrictions on free speech and mobility, including freedom of the press, the right to protest peacefully, and Internet access; and extrajudicial arrests, detention, torture, and even murder (see the government response to the July 2024 elections and the arrests of other rights defenders on November 28, 2025, some of whom have not yet been released.
During the call, five young men who sought asylum in the United States spoke movingly about their fathers and mothers. Their fathers were Black soliders, killed at the Inal torture camp, during the genocide. Their mothers are part of the Widows’ Alliance that has been agitating for justice and accountability ever since. The men are part of the Orphans’ Alliance, an international group that has joined with the widows in accountability efforts. Recently, the Mauritanian government offered them a 59M Euro payment in exchange for their silence about their fathers’ murders. The families said no; they want to know where their loved ones’ bodies are buried. They want full and equal rights as Black people in Mauritania. So, the struggle goes on.
Watch and listen to their moving testimonies, including memories of their fathers, and the love and respect they hold for their mothers and all of the other widows who have fought for justice these thirty-five years.
Speaking on the webinar were:
Mohamedou and Saliou Wele, Beidy Ly, Nadhirou Tambadou, and Ibrahima Guisset — all Ohio residents and members of the Orphans’ Alliance;
Abdoulaye Sow (Texas), Zeinabou Sall (Texas), and Houleye Thiam (Ohio) of the Mauritanian Network for Human Rights in US;
Ibrahima Diallo, Progressive Forces of Change (Columbus Chapter); and
Lynn Tramonte, Ohio Immigrant Alliance (moderator).
A summary of the discussion, including additional details about the men’s stories and some quotes, is available here. The video is available here.
"Our brave mothers raised us. Today, if you see us speaking out, going to school, it's because of them. They raised us the best they could. Because none of them went to school or were educated. They were full-time mothers," said Mohamedou O. Wele. He and the rest of the speakers on the call paid enormous tribute to the widows of the men killed at the Inal torture camp, who have been agitating for justice for thirty-five years, while also taking care of their children and dealing with emotional wounds.
His brother Saliou Wele said, "My mother is getting older. She doesn't want to die without justice, so that her husband was killed in vain. And for her, we will continue the fight.” He continued, “We are not looking to destroy our country. We are looking to rebuild it. More than 60% of the country is Black, but I can’t go home without them asking me to prove that I belong there. "
Saliou also laid out the widows’ and orphans’ demands. “What we really want is to repeal the 1993 amnesty law. That is a wall that keeps us from getting any kind of legal justice. We want them to recognize what they did to our fathers and stop burying the truth. Give us that justice. Give our mothers their justice. We really want to move past this and focus on what we can do to help our people to grow and educate themselves.”
Abdoulaye Sow with the Mauritanian Network pointed out, “When it comes to these asylum cases in the U.S. specifically, we have to look at these underlying issues. Mauritania is not actually changing. The President of the Assembly, the equivalent of the Speaker of the House here, is one of the accused murderers. And the government is turning a blind eye, not listening, nothing is being done. That’s going to continue as long as we don’t solve the problem at the roots in Mauritania, which is to put the maximum pressure on the government to bring justice for these people.”
Houleye Thiam, also with the Mauritanian Network, said, “Our Black struggle for liberty and justice in Mauritania is not for sale. No one is gonna buy us. You gotta give us what we deserve, which is justice. Equality for Black Mauritanians. We deserve that and we won’t stop fighting until we get that.”
As of August 2025, according to government data published by TRAC, there were 19,189 asylum cases pending in U.S. immigration courts filed by people from Mauritania — the second highest number for people from African nations, after Senegal. Over 5,000 are located in New York — the highest number in the country, with the second-largest number of pending cases in Cleveland (3,105). Memphis, Philadelphia, and Detroit Immigration Courts also have more than 1,200 pending cases each. These numbers do not include affirmative asylum applications filed by people whose cases have not been referred to the immigration court.
Unfortunately, systemic problems in the U.S. immigration courts, including interpreter problems that judges should correct, have led to the denial of legitimate asylum claims for some Black Mauritanians. Some have been deported to the same dangers they fled, only to experience re-detention, torture, extortion, and statelessness — becoming refugees once again.
Zeinabou Sall with the Mauritanian Network for Human Rights in US explained, “We are not leaving Mauritania because of economic issues. We’re leaving because of genocide. Apartheid. People need to know we're not safe in Mauritania. And then when you are sent back to Mauritania, you are sent back to the same thing. You are going back to slavery, you are going back to be jailed, you are going back to be killed. The genocide, we will never forget. Why is it a crime to be Black in Mauritania?”
Resources
Current Events in Mauritania
Backgrounder: Black Mauritanians’ Ongoing Search for Safety (Ohio Immigrant Alliance)
Mauritania: 2024 Country Report on Human Rights (U.S. State Department)
Universal Periodic Review of Mauritania: Report to the UN Human Rights Council (MENA Rights Group)
Summary: Mauritania Human Rights Update (12/9/2025)
Historical Documents
Mauritania: Human rights violations in the Senegal River Valley (Amnesty International)
Mauritania: More Than 200 Black Political Detainees Executed or Tortured to Death (Human Rights Watch)
“L’Infer D’Inal,” Mahamdou Sy
Mauritania’s Campaign of Terror: State-Sponsored Repression of Black Africans (Human Rights Watch)
Mauritania’s “Amnesty” Law (Orphans Alliance)
Issues in the US Asylum System
Scarred, Then Barred: Immigration Courts Harm Black Mauritanian Refugees (Ohio Immigrant Alliance)
Fulani: A Common Language, Commonly Misunderstood in Immigration Court (Ohio Immigrant Alliance)
