writer was sentenced to death for writing an article about the Prophet Mohammad

A Mauritania court has condemned a man to be shot to death for insulting the Islamic prophet of Mohammad, a human rights group claims. Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir, 28, was arrested a year ago for writing an article about the Prophet Mohammad and the caste system, an extremely sensitive subject in a country with deep social and racial divisions.It comes as the country's president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz continues to deny the practice of slavery still exists, despite widespread evidence of it and other human rights abuses occurring within the West African nation.The prosecution asked for the death penalty to be carried out in accordance with Islamic sharia law and recommended he be shot. He claims his article has been misinterpreted and was reported to have fainted in court when the verdict was handed down.