Reports by the state media, says that the Mauritanian government has accused a secondary school student of blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad.
According to the AMI news agency, Maria Cheikh Abdallahi Obed has been charged with a crime that carries a death penalty and is being investigated by the prosecutor’s office in Nouakchott, the country’s capital.
A statement from the prosecution, said a baccalaureate exam paper that was allegedly deemed offensive to Islam had been found in a testing facility in the northwestern town of Atar.
The document also stated that a probe helped identify the culprit and apprehend her.
According to AMI, the prosecutor accused Ms. Obed of “mocking and insulting the prophet” and of “using social media to harm Islamic sanctuaries.”
The country’s religious authorities ruled that those found guilty of insulting the Prophet Muhammad should receive the death penalty, which led to the official announcement of the arrest.
Last week, when President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani demanded that clerics make clear their position on blasphemy, the Mauritanian Council of Islamic Scholars released an edict on the subject.
When someone was found guilty in court of insulting the prophet, the council defended the imposition of the death penalty.
On July 21, the suspect’s family issued a statement through the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper in which they claimed their relative had a mental disorder and begged for pardon from the public.