Pardon granted for Mauritania MPs who accused president of discrimination

NOUAKCHOTT: The president of Mauritania has granted a pardon to two opposition lawmakers sentenced to four years in jail for accusing him of racial discrimination against black people and descendants of slaves. The state-run Mauritanian News Agency (AMI) reported that President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani announced the pardon in a decree Thursday. The two women parliamentarians, Mariem Cheikh and Ghamou Achour, were accused of describing Ghazouani on social media as a force behind “apartheid in Mauritania” in west Africa.