Activists hope Mauritania court rulings signal the end for slavery
DAKAR- A week in which two slave-owners were jailed and two leading anti-slavery activists were released from prison in Mauritania could mark a turning point in the West African nation's fight to eliminate the practice, campaigners said on Wednesday.
Two men were last week handed five-year prison sentences - one year to be served, four years suspended - and ordered to pay compensation to two victims in only the country's second ever prosecution for slavery since it was criminalised in 2007.
Prominent activists Biram Dah Abeid and Brahim Bilal, who had been in prison for 18 months after taking part in an anti-slavery march, were freed two days later by the Supreme Court.
