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Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir

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Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir
محمد الشيخ ولد امخيطير
Born1985
NationalityMauritanian
Occupation(s)Engineer, freelance journalist, blogger
Known forBlogging, apostasy charge

Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir (Arabic: محمد الشيخ ولد امخيطير ) is a Mauritanian blogger and political prisoner. He was sentenced to death after he wrote an article critical of religion and the caste system in Mauritania. He is a designated prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.[1][2]

Mkhaitir was born into the Moulamines caste, commonly referred to as the blacksmith caste, which holds the second lowest social status in Mauritania. Before he was arrested on charges of apostasy he worked for SAMMA, a company partially owned by Kinross.[3]

Arrest and death sentence

Mkhaitir was arrested in his home in the city of Nouadhibou on 2 January 2014, two days after publishing an article titled “Religion, Religiosity and Craftsmen” on the website Aqlame. The article was critical of the prophet Muhammad's treatment of non-Arabs relating to the caste system in Mauritania.[3] Clerics issued a fatwa against him and demanded he be executed,[4]and a businessman offered reward of 10,000 ouguiya for his death.[5] He was charged with apostasy under Article 306 of the Mauritanian criminal code, and subsequently sentenced to death by firing squad.[6][7] If the sentence is carried out Mkhaitir would be the first person executed in Mauritania since 1987.[4] Despite repenting and saying shahada, the supreme court upheld his death sentence.[8]

Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council as a representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, Kacem El Ghazzali highlighted the case of Mkhaitir,[9] to which the Mauritanian ambassador to the UNHRC claimed Mkhaitir was arrested for his own safety. The diplomat also reportedly insisted "there is no need to talk about the death penalty"[10][11]

The court of appeals heard the case on April 1, 2016. The verdict was upheld but sent the case to Mauritania's supreme court. On January 31, 2017, Mauritania’s supreme court heard the case, and returned it to the court of appeals.[12] When the appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, protestors, some of them armed, gathered in Nouakchott demanding his execution.[3][13]

On november 3, 2017, police in the capital Nuakchott dispersed a demonstration and arrested four[14] for inciting to kill Mkhaitir, and a week later the Court of Appeal reduced the death sentence to a two-year jail term. He would be released immediately as he had already been in jail for more than two years, reported the BBC. "[15]

See also

  • Raif Badawi- A blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes for "Insulting Islam" in Saudi Arabia
  • Ashraf Fayadh- Also sentenced to death for apostasy

References

  1. ^ "Document". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  2. ^ "Originally Sentenced to Death, a Blogger Goes Before Mauritania's Supreme Court". Global Voices Advocacy. 2017-01-29. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  3. ^ a b c "In Mauritania, a blogger faces the death penalty for insulting Islam". Newsweek. 2016-12-19. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  4. ^ a b "Mauritanian clerics urge for blogger's death penalty to be applied". Reuters. 2016-11-13. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  5. ^ "Enforcement Of Shari'a Law In The Muslim World For Insulting Islam, Prophet Muhammad: A Review Of Recent Arrests, Imprisonment, Flogging, Death Sentences". MEMRI - The Middle East Media Research Institute. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  6. ^ "Mohammed Shaikh Ould Mohammed Ould Mkhaitir | Freedom Now". www.freedom-now.org. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  7. ^ "In Mauritania, blogger sentenced to death for apostasy - Committee to Protect Journalists". cpj.org. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  8. ^ "Millions of people rallied to the support of Raif Badawi – who will". The Independent. 2015-08-21. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  9. ^ http://iheu.org/iheu-laments-human-rights-council-member-states-who-imprison-blasphemers/
  10. ^ http://iheu.org/iheu-briefing-on-mohamed-cheikh-ould-mkheitir-case/
  11. ^ https://www.facebook.com/KacemOfficialPage/videos/644535792249334/?permPage=1
  12. ^ "CNN Arabic - رغم تقديمه لتوبته.. مطالب في موريتانيا بإعدام كاتب بتهمة "الإساءة للرسول"". CNN Arabic (in Arabic). Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  13. ^ africanews (2016-11-21), Muslim clerics urge for blogger's death penalty to be applied, retrieved 2017-03-19
  14. ^ https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/11/07/mauritania-quash-blogger-mkhaitirs-death-sentence
  15. ^ http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-africa-41926318
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