Mauritania
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist de facto
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital...
- News items in the archive
- 51
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Mauritania is classified as Abolitionist de facto in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 51 news items on Mauritania, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- JANUARY 1, 2020MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
- JANUARY 1, 2019MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
- JUNE 9, 2018MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
THE DEATH PENALTY AT THE HEART OF THE DEBATES OF THE 62ND ORDINARY SESSION OF THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES' RIGHTS
The 62nd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR),
- MAY 11, 2018MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
AFRICAN UNION RIGHTS GROUP URGES MAURITANIA 'REVIEW' BLASPHEMY LAW
The African Union's human rights body has called on Mauritania to "review" a draft law that applies the death penalty for blasphemy as global outrage grows over the imprisonment of a young blogger.
- JANUARY 1, 2018MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2017MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
MAURITANIA BROADENS DEATH PENALTY FOR BLASPHEMY
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.
- NOVEMBER 9, 2017MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
From death sentence to freedom: Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed
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 c
NOVEMBER 9, 2017MauritaniaDEATH PENALTYMAURITANIA: BLOGGER SENTENCED TO DEATH IS RELEASED ON APPEAL
An appeals court in Mauritania has released a blogger who had been sentenced to death for an online post deemed blasphemous by authorities.
- JANUARY 1, 2017MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
APRIL 21, 2016MauritaniaDEATH PENALTYMAURITANIA: APPEAL COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR 'BLASPHEMOUS' BLOGGER
An appeal court in the west African state of Mauritania has upheld the death sentence of a blogger accused of blasphemy, a judicial source told AFP.
- JANUARY 1, 2016MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
JULY 16, 2015MauritaniaDEATH PENALTYMAURITANIA: COURT SLAMS DEATH SENTENCE TO TWO RAPISTS OF UNDER-AGED GIRL
Two people convicted of the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl in Mauritania were given the death
- JANUARY 1, 2015MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
DECEMBER 24, 2014MauritaniaDEATH PENALTYMAURITANIA: FIRST APOSTASY DEATH SENTENCE
A 30-year-old Muslim man, Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould Mkheitir, became the first person to be
- NOVEMBER 18, 2014MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
MAURITANIA UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR KIDNAPPERS
A Mauritanian appellate court upheld the death sentence for two terrorists convicted in the 2007 kidnapping
- JANUARY 1, 2014MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
- JANUARY 1, 2013MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2012LibyaDEATH PENALTY
Libya's most-wanted man, former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi
Libya's most-wanted man, former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi
- JULY 9, 2012MaliDEATH PENALTY
MAURITANIA: CRIMINAL COURT SENTENCES 3 MALIANS TO DEATH FOR MURDER
The Criminal Court of Nouadhibo, about 465 kilometres north of Nouakchott, the
- MAY 16, 2012MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
MAURITANIA: DEATH SENTENCE UPHELD FOR QAEDA ASSASSIN
A Mauritanian court upheld a death sentence handed to an Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
- JANUARY 1, 2012MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
- JUNE 10, 2011MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International called for the cancellation of the death sentences pronounced
Amnesty International called for the cancellation of the death sentences pronounced
MAY 24, 2011MauritaniaDEATH PENALTYMAURITANIA: 13 QAEDA PRISONERS MOVED TO SECRET SPOT
Thirteen members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, including eight on death row, were
- MARCH 20, 2011MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
MAURITANIA: FOUR MAURITANIANS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ATTACK AGAINST ARMY
four Mauritanian Islamists who were convicted of terrorism were sentenced to death by the criminal
MARCH 15, 2011MauritaniaDEATH PENALTYMAURITANIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLER OF AMERICAN
A Mauritanian court handed down the death penalty to the main perpetrator of the murder of American
- JANUARY 1, 2011MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
High treason, premeditated murder and torture are capital crimes.
- OCTOBER 20, 2010MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
MAURITANIA: QAEDA-LINKED MILITANTS SENTENCED TO DEATH
a Mauritanian court sentenced to death the head of a militant group linked to al Qaeda's North African wing.
- JUNE 22, 2010GambiaDEATH PENALTY
MAURITANIA HANDS DOWN DEATH SENTENCES IN CRIME CRACKDOWN
a court in Nouakchott, Mauritania, handed down ten death sentences for
MAY 25, 2010MauritaniaDEATH PENALTYMAURITANIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR AL-QAEDA YOUTHS IN FRENCH KILLINGS
A Mauritanian court sentenced three Al-Qaeda members to death for the
- MAY 24, 2010MauritaniaDEATH PENALTY
MAURITANIA: TERROR SUSPECTS FACE DEATH PENALTY
A Mauritanian prosecutor asked the Nouakchott criminal court to sentence