Criminal
Sharia-based criminal law with hadd penalties and apostasy carrying the death penalty
Ordonnance n° 83-162 introduced a criminal code applying sharia, including hadd penalties. Apostasy carries a mandatory death sentence following a 2018 amendment removing the possibility of repentance-based commutation. No executions have taken place since 1987.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Tribunaux de wilaya and the Cour criminelle; specialised courts sit on slavery and terrorism.
- Deadline — Garde à vue: 48 hours, extendable; longer in terrorism cases
- Deadline — Prescription: as provided by the Code pénal, subject to hadd rules
Governing law
- Ordonnance n° 83-162 du 9 juillet 1983 portant Code pénal
- Loi n° 2018-023 relative à l'apostasieArticle 306 amendment
- Loi n° 2015-031 portant incrimination de l'esclavage
In practice
Mauritanian criminal law applies hadd penalties including amputation and stoning in its text, though these have not been carried out in recent decades, and the 2018 amendment made the death sentence for apostasy mandatory even where the accused repents. The gap between the Code as enacted and its enforcement is therefore very wide, and death sentences pronounced have consistently been commuted rather than executed.