Rights groups demand release of Mauritania anti-slavery campaigners

Sixteen human rights groups, including Amnesty International, demanded on Monday the release of 13 anti-slavery campaigners facing imminent trial in Mauritania.

The 13 - members of a group fighting hereditary slavery in the west African country - are due to appear in court on Wednesday in the capital Nouakchott, the groups said in a statement.

They are accused of rebellion, use of violence, attack against public authority, armed assembly and membership of an unrecognised organisation, which carries a potential fine and a jail term of up to two years, it said.

The activists are members of a Mauritanian group called the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement, according to the statement.

They were arrested between June 30 and July 9 after a protest by a Nouakchott slum community that was being forcibly relocated as the city prepared for an Arab League summit on July 25.

The slum was home to many so-called Haratin - a "slave caste" under a hereditary system of servitude whose members are forced to work without pay as cattle herders and domestic servants.

"These activists are prisoners of conscience who have been falsely accused and are behind bars in order to impede their legitimate work," said Kine Fatim Diop, a campaigner for Amnesty International.

"They have been targeted persistently for their views and must be released immediately and unconditionally."

The statement was endorsed by several Mauritanian groups, including the Mauritania Forum of National Human Rights Organisations (FONADH).

About 10 police officers were injured during the protest, according to local officials.

Hereditary systems of slavery still exist in Mauritania despite an official ban, where those belonging to "slave castes" are forced to work as cattle herders and domestic servants without pay.