Student Charged With Blasphemy For Disrespecting Prophet Muhammad In Exam Paper

A candidate for the baccalaureate exam in Mauritania has been charged for having returned a copy deemed blasphemous against the Prophet Muhammad during the test in religious education.

A source at the Nouakchott prosecutor’s office told AFP, that the 19-year-old girl was imprisoned Wednesday evening in the women’s prison in Nouakchott “for disrespect and mockery of the prophet as well as for using social networks to achieve (the) holy values ​​of Islam.”

The Arabic writings alleged against the student in a public high school in Atar, a tourist town in the north of the country, were not specified by the judicial source.

Local media and social media posts refer to “attacks on the morality of the prophet” Muhammad. The result of his examination was also not communicated.

The student was arrested on Friday for writing an exam paper considered insulting to the Prophet in last month’s baccalaureate exams, according to a BBC report.

A report on Saturday noted that religious authorities demanded the death penalty if the young woman, who has not been named, is found guilty of blasphemy in court. Adding that Mauritania recently strengthened its blasphemy laws, prescribing the death penalty for Muslims who “ridicule or insult God or the Prophet, even if they repent”, nullifying a previous law where offenders could avoid the death sentence if they expressed remorse.

Pan-Arab news outlet, al-Quds al-Araby, also reports that the student who is from the north-western town of Atar and comes from the Haratin ethnic group, who are the descendants of slaves of sub-Saharan origin, does not stand a chance of an acquittal due to perceived marginalisation against her tribe.