[Mauritania] Mauritania must immediately release Mohamed Mkhaïtir, a blogger sentenced to death for apostasy

Joint Public Statement (AFR 38/002/2015)

We, civil society and human rights organisations, call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed Mkhaïtir, a 29-year-old blogger. We consider him a prisoner of conscience who has committed no offence and has done nothing more than peacefully exercise his rights to freedom of thought, conscience, expression and religion.

International law prohibits any form of coercion that would impair the right to have or adopt a religion or belief. This includes the use of criminal penalties to compel believers or non-believers to adhere to religious beliefs, renounce their religion or beliefs, or convert. We also consider that the provision of the Mauritanian Criminal Code imposing the death penalty violates Mauritania’s international obligations.

Mohamed Mkhaïtir was held in pre-trial detention for nearly a year. In December 2013, he was sentenced to death for apostasy after publishing an article on the website of the online newspaper Aqlame. The article was later removed because it was considered blasphemous towards the Prophet Muhammad. Addressed to members of his social group, the moualamines (blacksmiths), it criticised those who use religion to marginalise certain groups in Mauritanian society.

However, Mkhaïtir did not benefit from Article 306[2], despite having repented during his preliminary hearing before the gendarmerie.

At his trial in Nouadhibou, the judge told Mohamed Mkhaïtir that he was accused of apostasy for “speaking lightly” of the Prophet Muhammad. Mkhaïtir repented again during the trial, explaining that his article was intended solely to denounce those who use religion to demean others. He was shown no clemency. This was the first death sentence for apostasy handed down in Mauritania since independence in 1960.

His lawyers have since appealed against his death sentence.

The right to freedom of expression is a fundamental individual right. According to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, established under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), to which Mauritania is a party, freedom of expression has two main components: the right to receive information and the right to express and disseminate one’s opinions.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief has observed that freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression are two fundamental rights that reinforce one another. Freedom of religion or belief has a strong communicative dimension, encompassing the sharing of one’s beliefs with others, the receipt and dissemination of information about matters relating to religion or belief, and attempts to persuade others in a non-coercive manner.

In its General Comment No. 34[5] on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Human Rights Committee also notes that “prohibitions on displays of lack of respect for a religion or other belief system, including blasphemy laws, are incompatible with the [ICCPR]”, except in the specific circumstances where individuals advocate “national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence” (Article 20 of the ICCPR).

We also remind the Mauritanian authorities of the Human Rights Committee’s recent recommendation that Mauritania “should remove the crime of apostasy from its legislation and allow Mauritanians to enjoy their freedom of religion without reservation”.

We, the signatory organisations, oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and without exception, regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime, the circumstances of the person sentenced, their guilt or innocence, or the method of execution.

The death penalty violates the right to life proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Mohamed Mkhaïtir’s death sentence also clearly violates Mauritania’s obligations under the ICCPR to respect the right to freedom of expression.

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#Mauritania must immediately release blogger Mohamed Mkhaïtir, sentenced to death for apostasy. #FreeMkhaïtir
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr38/0002/2015/en/

La Mauritanie doit annuler la condamnation à mort pour apostasie du blogueur Mohamed Mkhaïtir. #FreeMkhaïtir
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr38/0002/2015/en/

24 human rights organisations call on #Mauritania to release a blogger sentenced to death. #FreeMkhaïtir
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr38/0002/2015/en/

24 organisations de défense des droits humains appellent la #Mauritanie à libérer un blogueur condamné à mort pour apostasie. #FreeMkhaïtir
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr38/0002/2015/en/

@AmnestyOnline and human rights organisations call on #Mauritania to release the blogger sentenced to death for apostasy. #FreeMkhaïtir
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr38/0002/2015/en/

@AmnestyOnline et 23 organisations de défense des droits humains appellent la #Mauritanie à annuler la condamnation à mort du blogueur condamné pour apostasie. #FreeMkhaïtir

Signatory organisations

Action des Chrétiens pour l’abolition de la Torture; Africtivistes (Senegal); Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l’Homme (France); Amnesty International; Anti Slavery International; Article 19; Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (Mauritania); Association mauritanienne des droits de l’Homme (Mauritania); Association Semfilms (Burkina Faso); Centre for Civil and Political Rights (Switzerland); Comité de Solidarité avec les Victimes des Violations des Droits Humains (Mauritania); Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme (FIDH); Forum des Organisations Nationales des Droits de l’Homme en Mauritanie (Mauritania); Initiative pour le Résurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste (Mauritania); Initiative pour le Résurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste, IRA (USA); Ligue pour la Défense de la Justice et de la Liberté (Burkina Faso); Minority Rights Group International (Great Britain); Mouvement Burkinabè des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples (Burkina Faso); PEN International; Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (RADDHO) (Senegal); Reporters sans Frontières (RSF); Society for Threatened Peoples; SOS Esclaves (Mauritania); World Organisation Against Torture.