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Testimonial

Mauritania: sentenced to death then pardoned

Fatimata1 was sentenced to death in 2010 in Mauritania. Pardoned in 2016, she told her story. Planète Réfugiés-droits de l’homme collected the testimonial of Fatima, a former death row inmate, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, in partnership with Ensemble contre la peine de mort and other associations.

  1. name has been changed. ↩

I didn't have access to much

I WAS SENTENCED to death for infanticide.

A police commissioner came to my home in 2010 to arrest me. He didn’t tell me why and spoke to me in Hassaniya, a language I don’t know. I only speak Peuhl. I stayed at the police station for two days. I didn’t know I had the right to a lawyer. I was referred to court on the third day. The hearing lasted a few minutes and I was immediately transferred to the women’s prison.

The first few weeks were very hard. I didn’t have access to much. The wardens insulted us. I then became the court-chief, the inmates’ representative. This made me more respected.

I could wash myself, wash my clothes. I only saw the doctor after two months in prison, and I had to be transferred to the hospital several times for specialised tests. My brother was able to visit me every two or three months.

My family is poor. However, they managed to raise enough money for me to have a lawyer. I saw him twice in prison, but he didn’t show up on the day of my trial. My family was not present either because the trip was too expensive.

The verdict was rendered: I was sentenced to death. I didn’t understand anything at the hearing that took place in Hassaniya. I had no interpreter, and then I learned from a Peuhl police officer that I had been sentenced to death.

After contacting the Presidency of the Republic, I was pardoned after six years of imprisonment. I finally got to see my children again.

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Planète Réfugiés - Droits de l'Homme

Organisation

The organisation is strongly committed for the respect of fundamental freedoms, individidual and collective liberties. The members of the organization aim at protecting civilians in times of war, protecting the medical mission, defending and promoting human rights, fighting against torture and death penalty.

• Their website
• Their project about Mauritania

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