This news comes from Human Right Watch:

Mauritania’s president should, in his final days in office, ensure the immediate release of Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir, who remains in detention since a court ordered his release in November 2017, Human Rights Watch and 11 other nongovernmental organizations said today in a letter to President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz

A court originally sentenced Mkhaitir to death for blasphemy because of an article denouncing what he deemed the misuse of Islam to justify caste discrimination in Mauritania. In 2017, an appeals court reduced his sentence to a fine and two years in prison, which he had by then served.

“No one should be locked up simply for voicing an opinion, no matter how controversial, nor held one day in prison without legal basis,” said Lama Fakih, acting Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “President Abdel Aziz should use his final days in office to correct a gross injustice that occurred during his tenure and free Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir.”

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