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10

MOHAMED CHEICK MKHAITIR

MAURITANIA

© Christophe Meireis
SENTENCED TO DEATH IN 2015
The guard used to ask me sarcastically: 'Tell me about the sun...Do you still remember that?

Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir
Blogger sentenced to death in 2015. Released by a Mauritanian court of justice in 2017, but held in arbitrary and incommunicado detention until 2019.

Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir, a Mauritanian blogger, was sentenced to death in 2015 for apostasy and insulting the Prophet Mohammed (blasphemy) after publishing a blog on slavery and discrimination, particularly against the blacksmith caste to which he belongs. In November 2017 during the second phase of appeal, his sentence was reduced to 2 years imprisonment, which he had already served, but he was arbitrarily detained incommunicado until 29 July 2019. Since his release, he has been living as a refugee in Europe. Under the Mauritanian Constitution, the state guarantees the "inviolability of the human person". In April 2018, a legislative amendment made the death penalty mandatory for "blasphemous words" and "sacrilegious acts" (Article 306 of the Penal Code). The adoption of such a law is a real step backwards for a country that has not carried out any executions since 1987 and has even ratified numerous international human rights treaties. At least 123 people on death row are currently detained in Mauritania. The majority of them are held in prisons far from the capital and hardly ever see their lawyers or families. Mauritania is also one of the 12 states which legislation still provides for the death penalty for homosexuality. Mauritania and the other Maghreb countries of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia have all had a de facto moratorium for several decades. In recent years, however, the political and security contexts have hampered progress, including the adoption of legislative reforms. However, local actors (parliamentarians, national human rights institutions, national coalitions against the death penalty, lawyers, etc.) remain strongly committed to the abolition of the death penalty. Many of the crimes punishable by death in Mauritanian law are expressly based on the law of retaliation, known as qisas, whereby the victim (or the victim's family) is entitled to 'equivalent' retribution for the damage suffered, the very expression of vengeance rather than justice. This thirst for revenge also characterises the story of Mohamed Mkhaitir. The case provoked strong reactions among the Mauritanian population. The sentence handed down to the blogger, who also denounced human rights violations in Mauritanian society, was not within the scope of the rule of law. The death penalty perpetuates a cycle of unprecedented violence in societies that still practice it. Several human rights defenders, including Mekfoula Brahim, have received death threats for the simply having called for the annulment of Mohamed Mkhaïtir's death sentence.

Routledge Hanbook on Capital Punishment

Author: Robert M. Bohm, Gavin Lee
Edited by: Routledge Handbook
Published date: 2015
Number of pages: 137

Capital punishment is one of the more controversial subjects in the social sciences, especially in criminal justice and criminology. Over the last decade or so, the United States has experienced a significant decline in the number of death sentences and executions. Since 2007, eight states have abolished capital punishment, bringing the total number of states without the death penalty to 19, plus the District of Columbia, and more are likely to follow suit in the near future (Nebraska reinstated its death penalty in 2016). Worldwide, 70 percent of countries have abolished capital punishment in law or in practice. The current trend suggests the eventual demise of capital punishment in all but a few recalcitrant states and countries. Within this context, a fresh look at capital punishment in the United States and worldwide is warranted.

The Routledge Handbook on Capital Punishment comprehensively examines the topic of capital punishment from a wide variety of perspectives. A thoughtful introductory chapter from experts Bohm and Lee presents a contextual framework for the subject matter, and chapters present state-of-the-art analyses of a range of aspects of capital punishment, grouped into five sections: (1) Capital Punishment: History, Opinion, and Culture; (2) Capital Punishment: Rationales and Religious Views; (3) Capital Punishment and Constitutional Issues; (4) The Death Penalty’s Administration; and (5) The Death Penalty’s Consequences.

This is a key collection for students taking courses in prisons, penology, criminal justice, criminology, and related subjects, and is also an essential reference for academics and practitioners working in prison service or in related agencies.

 

The accused: damned or devoted?

Réalisé par Mohammed Ali Naqvi
Native country: Royaume-Uni
Duration: 74 minutes
Release date: 2020

In Pakistan, anyone accused of blasphemy faces the death penalty. While civil rights activists have been calling for years for a revision of this law, passed in 1986, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, founder of the fundamentalist Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik, has orchestrated a violent campaign to show his support. He is urging his millions of supporters to attack those accused of blasphemy themselves. Asia Bibi, a Christian peasant woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010 after being accused of drinking from the same cup as Muslim women in her village, has become a symbol of this violent radicalization. After having her sentence upheld on appeal, she was finally acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2018...

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Email: ecpm@ecpm.org

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