{"id":142,"date":"2017-11-07T00:32:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T23:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reseauhem.ch\/?p=142"},"modified":"2017-11-07T00:32:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T23:32:00","slug":"mauritania-facebook-bloggers-death-sentence-for-apostasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/?p=142","title":{"rendered":"Mauritania Facebook Blogger\u2019s Death Sentence for Apostasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mauritania : death sentence for apostasy must be quashed<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL <\/strong>PRESS RELEASE <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mauritania must immediately and unconditionally release human rights defender Mohamed Mkha\u00eftir, who has been sentenced to death for criticizing the use of Islam to justify discriminatory practices against minority ethnic groups in the country, Amnesty International said ahead of his appeal trial.<\/p>\n

The case of Mohamed Mkha\u00eftir, who was sentenced to death in December 2014 for a \u201cblasphemous\u201d post he made on Facebook, will be heard for a second time by an appeal court in the north-western town of Nouadhibou tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case is absurd and represents a real setback for freedom of expression in a country that has not imposed punishment for apostasy in more than 50 years of independence,\u201d said Kin\u00e9-Fatim Diop, Amnesty International\u2019s West Africa Campaigner.<\/p>\n

\u201cMohamed Mkha\u00eftir is a prisoner of conscience who has been in detention for three years solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression and standing-up against discrimination. His scandalous death sentence must be quashed and he should be immediately and unconditionally released.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December 2013, Mohamed Mkha\u00eftir published a Facebook blog, entitled \u201cReligion, Religiosity and Blacksmiths\u201d, condemning the use of religion to justify discriminatory practices against members of the blacksmith cast, with which he identifies. Following the publication of his post, he received threatening phone calls accusing him of blasphemy. The post was also republished by several websites before it was removed.<\/p>\n

He wrote a second blog explaining that his article aimed at denouncing those who use religion to belittle members of lower casts.\u00a0 Thousands of protestors took to the streets in several towns, including Nouadhibou and the capital Nouakchott, demanding that Mohamed Mkha\u00eftir be sentenced to death.<\/p>\n

He was arrested on 5 January 2014 and charged with apostasy. During the first six months of his detention, he was held in solitary confinement in a cell without toilets or a shower.<\/p>\n

During the trial hearing, Mohamed Mkha\u00eftir publicly repented, saying it was not his intention to speak lightly of the Prophet Mohammed in his writings. He was convicted and sentenced to death on 25 December 2014. In April 2016, the Nouadhibou Court of Appeal upheld his death sentence and referred his case to the Supreme Court in order to consider the veracity of his repentance. However the same Supreme Court quashed the decision and referred Mohamed Mkha\u00eftir\u2019s case back to the Appeal Court of Nouadhibou.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis death sentence has been imposed in blatant contradiction to Mauritania\u2019s obligations under international human rights law particularly the African Charter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights, to which it is state party,\u201d said Kin\u00e9-Fatim Diop.<\/p>\n

\u201cAuthorities should release Mohamed Mkha\u00eftir now and put an end to the farcical legal proceedings against him, which have been detrimental to his health and life.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information please call Amnesty International’s press office in Dakar, Senegal, +221 77 658 62 27<\/a> or +221 33 869 82 31<\/a>; Email: <\/em>sadibou.marong@amnesty.org<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter: @AmnestyWaro<\/em><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more information please call Amnesty International’s press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566<\/a> or +44 (0)77 7847 2126<\/a><\/p>\n

International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Dan Albertini, for Editor,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mauritania : death sentence for apostasy must be quashed AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE Mauritania must immediately and unconditionally release human rights defender Mohamed Mkha\u00eftir, who has been sentenced to death for criticizing the use of Islam to justify discriminatory practices against minority ethnic groups in the country, Amnesty International said ahead of his appeal trial.
+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,29],"tags":[156,209,375,449,483],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communique","category-international","tag-dan-albertini","tag-facebook-bloggers","tag-mohamed-mkhaitir","tag-religiosity","tag-sentenced-to-death"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/12h71.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}