This interview was facilitated in 2026 through the Mauritanian Network for Human Rights in the U.S. (MNHRUS)

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Name: Mohamed 

Gender: Male 

Age: 25-35 years old 

Geographical Location of experiences described during the interview: Bouratt, Brakna, 90 km away from Kaedi

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Creation of the Entry 

This entry is a factual, reconstructed narrative of detailed notes taken during the interview process. It does not include The Participant’s exact wording but summarizes the information they are willing to disclose. 

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Context of the Entry 

The Participant is a 25-35 years old Haratine man. He primarily discusses the details of his enslavement. He was born in Mauritania. He has since escaped slavery, though his mother and his siblings remain enslaved. 

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Description of experiences disclosed 

The participant, Mohamed, belongs to the Haratine community and had horrible experiences. He experienced slavery for his entire life until he came to the U.S. within the past few years, after seeking asylum. His father was a slave owned by the same master, and Mohamed inherited this state of slavery from his father. His entire family remains enslaved to this day; he doesn’t know 2 of his brothers because they were taken away at a young age. His family is owned by a “White Moor” or Bidan. In his asylum document, Mohamed stated that “I was raised to believe that I had no rights, but rather had duties such as serving the master and obeying to his orders without any objection or resentment,” he stated in the interview that he never had any rights for his entire life until seeking asylum in the U.S. 

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Mohamed, in his asylum statement, detailed his experiences of the brutality of punishment faced by enslaved Haratine:

“In 2017, my father was killed by the master after a dispute broke out between him and the master's wife over a missing livestock. So me, my brothers, and sisters became orphans overnight. We lived a life full of oppression and injustice. The Master would withhold food from us for days at times. He would also beat my brothers and me excessively and send us to sleep in the sheep pen if any of us committed the simplest of mistakes. It was not long after my father's death that my little brother was killed.”

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Mohamed stated that the master has a large house; within his compound, he had small makeshift homes for his slaves. Mohamed says that Haratines work day and night and give it all to their masters, which he finds very hurtful. All the enslaved women are the property of the master and are constantly raped and sexually abused. As far as he knows, more than 50% of Haratines he knows are living or have lived in slavery. He claims that this is partly because their parents believe in religious slavery.

The participant has some contact with his family. His parents believe that slavery is normal and they are not trying to escape it, unlike their kids. His parents think that if you escape slavery, you go to hell when you die; they think that going to the U.S. to escape is going to a country of non-believers, which is bad. They believe that staying with your master is both good and required to avoid hell. Mohamed says he was lucky to believe that no human being should be below another regardless of skin color, which is why he doesn’t believe in religious slavery. He is working with the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement  to free his enslaved brothers; however, his parents think that he is in the wrong and that his brothers being enslaved is normal, which makes it very difficult to do anything.

As stated above, Mohamed lived his entire life in the village/administrative commune of Bouratt. Mohamed stated that there are many masters in Bouratt, around 500 masters, but that is counted from the number of people living in a family, since everyone in that house has authority over the slaves. Based on his estimates, there are between 100 and 200 enslaved families in Bouratt. He does not have an estimate of Haratines in Bouratt, but he claims that there are many and they are all enslaved. In Bouratt and the broader Brakna region, many black Mauritanians (from other ethnic groups like Soninke, Fulani, etc.) are being expelled and replaced with enslaved Haratine workers and Bidan masters. He claims this happens often and is a common practice even today.

Mohamed lives in the U.S. currently, and he stated that he would die in the U.S. and never wants to return to Mauritania; however, he wishes to free his enslaved brothers. To this end, he said that right now the most urgent need is to get educated and learn to read and write. He wants ANY help to free his brothers in Mauritania. 

Interview Note:

In the 1990s, many Afro-Mauritanians in Southern Mauritania were expelled to countries such as Senegal or Mali. These Afro-Mauritanians were allowed reentry into the country in 2008, where they found that their villages were now occupied by Haratine people. The participant, Mohammed, said that this continues today as far as he knows. 

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Mohamed provided H.I.D.E with images of his asylum statement to the United States. The statement has been transcribed and is included in the next section below.  

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Language of The Participant used during the interview: Hassaniya

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Translator notes: One translator was present who translated from Hassaniya to Fulani (the participant’s roommate), and another translator was present from the Mauritanian Network for Human Rights (MNHRUS) to translate from Fulani to English 

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Recording/transcription status: No recording or transcription conducted per current project capacity. 

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Source of entry: Detailed notes from 2 interviewers (who spoke English). 

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Mohamed’s Asylum Statement (transcribed)

*Last Name and any other identifying information have been removed to maintain anonymity  of the participant 

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I MOHAMED, declare the following statement to support my effort of seeking asylum in United States of America.

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I belong to the Haratin social cast, means slaves and former slaves, that has experienced injustice and persecution by the state and society over the decades.

I have always felt contempt and discrimination from my childhood to this day I suffered from racism and discrimination throughout my life. My parents were victims of slavery, I became a slave to my father's master. I was raised to believe that I had no rights, but rather had duties such as serving the master and obeying to his orders without any objection or resentment. On 2017, my father was killed by the master after a dispute broke out between him and the master's wife over a missing livestock. So me my brothers and sisters became orphans overnight. We lived a life full of oppression and injustice. The Master would withhold food from us for days at times. He would also beat me and my brothers excessively and send us to sleep in the sheep pen if any of us committed the simplest of mistakes. It was not long after my father's death that my little brother was killed. Year after my father's death, specifically in 2018, the master who used to torture me and my family died, and his eldest son inherited us him him. I stayed for two months in his service, and at the end of the year 2018 an organization called "IRA MAURITANIA" came and they liberated me and my family and brought us to the capital, Nouakchott, and there we stayed with my uncle in Nouakchott.

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We struggled to get our civil papers,  because we were not born in hospital I thought that by coming to the capital, Nouakchott, our situation would improve, but I was delusional.  Just by interacting and mingling with the community there, I was able to feel the extent of the racism that exists against us. Racism and discrimination remain an obsession that I face every day in my normal life. This year, some events occurred that hurt me and affected me. I was threatened with death twice on purely ethnic grounds. The first was when the Souvi Ould Chein human rights activist, Soufi Ould Chein, was killed on March 9, 2023. A day later, specifically on Friday, March 10, 2023.

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I went out in a massive demonstration to denounce what he was subjected to. The demonstration was in front of the Dar-Naim police station No. 2, where Soufi was killed during interrogation. The police intervened and brutally broke up the peaceful sit-in. I was beaten and dragged along the sidewalk. Then they took me to the police station, where I was subjected to psychological and physical abuse. The officer threatened to kill me because I was "just a slave who does not deserve to live," according to what he said. As for the second incident, it was on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, two days after the killing of another citizen named Omar Diop. I went out in a demonstration that spread throughout Sebkha ,Nouakchott outskirts in which Omar was killed. Security intervened and 1 was subjected to all kinds of abuse and beatings. Then they took me to the police station, and there the officer took out his gun and shot over my head. I was terrified and then he started threatening me and threatening to kill me next time. After these incidents, I realized that my killing was just a matter of time and nothing more. my suffering in my country over the years i came here to seek protection and to protect myself from being killed.

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My mother helped financially by giving some money, she sold a land that was given to her by government agency that helps slaves and former slaves.

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I, MOHAMED. Attest under penalty of perjury that above statement was read back to me in the language that I understand Hassaniya and  affirm that its content is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.