Rights Groups Call for Release of Mauritanian Blogger

A coalition of 24 human rights and civil society groups say Mauritanian authorities should pardon a young blogger who was sentenced to death for apostasy in December. The blogger was convicted over an op-ed he wrote criticizing the use of Islam to prop up the country's caste system.   Mohamed Mkhaïtir is the first person in Mauritania to have been sentenced to death for apostasy.   During his trial, the judge told the blogger, 29, that his crime was “speaking lightly”...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - mercredi 11 mars 2015