Two anti-slavery activists in Mauritania, one of them a former presidential candidate, walked out of jail with "head high" Tuesday after the country's supreme court downgraded the crimes they were convicted of last year and ordered their release.
"We left prison with head high, without ever giving into attempts at compromise or submission to power," Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid told reporters after being freed along with Brahim Ould Bilal.
He said during their incarceration the pair had received "propositions" from those in power "in exchange for our freedom that we rejected," adding that he would reveal details at a later time.
Earlier their lawyer Brahim Ould Ebetty told AFP that they were released as the law gave them "the right to their opinion."
Ould Abeid, runner-up in the 2014 presidential elections and leader of the Abolitionist Movement in Mauritania, had been sentenced to two years in jail along with Ould Abetty for a public order offence and belonging to a non-authorised organisation following an anti-slavery protest.
The supreme court downgraded those offences to failing to disperse when ordered to do so by officers of the law, a charge which carries a maximum one-year jail sentence, meaning they have already served their time.
"The two men should be freed immediately," the court judgement read.
Hundreds of activists who had gathered to call for the men's release later appeared in front of the prison where they are being held to celebrate.
The crowd applauded as the two men stepped out of the prison in the late afternoon, a spokesman for the anti-slavery NGO told AFP.
Despite being officially abolished in 1981, slavery is still deeply entrenched in the vast, largely desert nation where local black populations were enslaved by settlers centuries ago.
Slave status is also often passed on from generation to generation, according to rights groups.
It is believed the activists were arrested while trying to educate people about land rights in the west African country, where descendants of slaves are often forced to give up a portion of their crops to traditional masters.
Alioune Tine, Amnesty International's West and Central Africa director, described the court's decision as "an enormous relief and welcome news" in a statement.
Tine said he hoped for momentum behind other freedom of speech cases, such as that of blogger Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir, currently on death row for blasphemy.
"This ruling should now provide an opportunity for the Mauritanian authorities to stop its crackdown on human rights defenders and release other prisoners of conscience," Tine said.
Ould Ebetty said the two lower courts that had sentenced the men and then upheld their sentences had "legally misclassified the facts," a mistake he said has been rectified by the supreme court.
- Legal shift -
In August 2015, Mauritania adopted a new law making slavery a "crime against humanity" and doubling the maximum prison term to 20 years.
The country in December also set up three specialist slavery courts and decreed last month that March 6 would be national day for the fight against slavery.
On Monday the first sentences were handed down at one of the new courts against two men in southeastern Mauritania.
The pair were sent to jail for five years and fined a million ouguiyas ($2500) for exploiting two women, a judicial source told AFP.
