10 November 2017 :

An appeals court in Mauritania has released a blogger who had been sentenced to death for an online post deemed blasphemous by authorities.
The court in Nouadhibou city on November 9 sentenced Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir to two years in prison and a fine. He has already served nearly four years, so he was released.
Mkhaitir was arrested in January 2014 and charged with apostasy over a Facebook post that condemned the use of religion to justify discrimination against his caste.
It was the first death sentence handed down for apostasy in Mauritania since the African nation's independence in 1960.
Amnesty International welcomed the new ruling and called on authorities to ensure that he lives without threat of physical attack.

26 June 2018 :

9 November 2017: Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed, a Mauritanian blogger sentenced to death in 2014 for "blaspheming" the Prophet in a blog post, was finally freed. Detained for the past three years, Mohamed was released after an appeal court in the northern city of Nouadhibou reduced his sentence to two years in prison. Prosecutors have nonetheless appealed against the court's decision, calling it too lenient. 
Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed's judicial ordeal began when a Nouadhibou criminal court found him guilty of apostasy and sentenced him to death in December 2014, although he gave a public apology and denied intending to insult the Prophet in his December 2013 blog post. 
A Nouadhibou appeal court upheld the death sentence on 21 April 2016 but changed the charge on which was convicted to "atheism" and asked Mauritania's supreme court to rule on the sincerity of his professed repentance. 
The supreme court referred the case to a different appeal court, the one that finally issued its ruling. As well as giving Mohamed a two-year jail term, the court fined him 60,000 ouguiyas (150 euros). 
However, prosecutors filed an appeal today against this decision, saying it was much too lenient and again seeking the death penalty for Mohamed. 
"It is a relief to know that Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed is free at last and we hope he will not be subjected to another trial as a result of the prosecution's appeal to the supreme court," RSF editor in chief Virginie Dangles said. 
"This blogger should never have had to spend three years of his life in prison because of what he wrote. His case has deeply divided Mauritanian society and we urge the authorities to lose no time in doing whatever is necessary to protect him." 
Mohamed's lawyer said she was not sure if it would be safe for her client to remain in Mauritania, given the hostile climate and the fact that prosecutors are again seeking the death penalty. 
Thousands of people have protested to demand the death sentence whenever his case has come before a court. Another hostile street demonstration took place in the capital, Nouakchott, a week ago. 
No one has been executed in Mauritania since 1987 and Mohamed was the first person in his country to be sentenced to death for apostasy.

20 November 2017 :

Showing repentance will no longer prevent the death penalty from being applied for blasphemy and apostasy, Mauritania said, as the conservative Muslim nation hardens up its religious laws.The decision follows the release on November 9 of a blogger previously condemned to death for criticising religious justification for discrimination in Mauritanian society.
A new bill will "harden up expected sentences for blasphemers," the government of the west African nation said in a statement released by the official AMI news agency.
"Every Muslim, man or woman, who mocks or insults Mohammed (peace be upon him), his angels, books... is liable to face the death penalty, without being asked to repent. They will incur the death penalty even if they repent," Justice Minister Brahim Ould Daddah said, according to the statement.
The decision to free blogger Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir for time served after his sentence for blasphemy was downgraded from death to two years in jail caused clashes and outrage in Mauritania last week.
A Muslim in his thirties, Mkheitir was sentenced in December 2014 over a blog which questioned decisions taken by the Prophet Mohammed and his companions during holy wars in the seventh century.
He also attacked the mistreatment of Mauritania's black population, blasting "an iniquitous social order" with an underclass that was "marginalised and discriminated against from birth."
Prosecutors have appealed the decision to release the blogger and are calling once more for the death penalty to be handed down.
Mauritania has not carried out the death penalty since 1987.
Justice Minister Ould Daddah said times had changed since the original law was written in 1983, and "consequentially the law has to move on," AMI reported.