Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir.(Photo courtesy: dakar-echo.com)
Nouakchott: Thousands of people gathered Tuesday in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott to demand the execution of a blogger convicted of apostasy as the supreme court sent his case back to an appeals tribunal.
Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir was initially sentenced to death in 2014 over a blog post deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammed.
Mkheitir's article had also attacked "an iniquitous social order" in Mauritania, with an underclass descended from slaves that was "marginalised and discriminated against from birth".
Modern-day slavery under a hereditary system of servitude forces members of the "slave" caste to work without pay as cattle herders and domestic servants, despite an official ban.
On Tuesday, the supreme court ruled to refer the blogger's case back to an appeals tribunal, a judicial source said.
No date has been set for his next hearing.
Meanwhile several thousand people gathered at a square near the courtroom, chanting slogans to demand that Mkheitir be executed.
Similar protests have been held since November, organised by the Forum of Imams and Ulemas, a powerful group of Islamic clerics.
Security forces deployed in large numbers across the capital as the court convened, an AFP journalist said.
Many Mauritanians live below the poverty line while there is huge disparity between the Arabised moorish elites and the country's black population.
Capital punishment is usually reserved for murder and acts of terrorism. According to Amnesty International, Mauritania last executed a prisoner in 1987.
Reporters without Borders (RSF) has called on the government to secure Mkheitir's release and guarantee his safety following threats from preachers.
"We ask you to acknowledge his repentance and ensure his safe release from prison," the press freedom group said in an open letter to President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
