Mauritanian who threw shoe at minister handed 3 years

A Mauritanian journalist and opposition activist has been sentenced to three years in jail for throwing his shoe at a cabinet minister, lawyers and a judicial source told AFP. Cheikh Baye Ould Mohamed was found guilty of “violence against a public official in the exercise of his duties” following a one-day trial in the capital […]

A Mauritanian journalist and opposition activist has been sentenced to three years in jail for throwing his shoe at a cabinet minister, lawyers and a judicial source told AFP.
Cheikh Baye Ould Mohamed was found guilty of “violence against a public official in the exercise of his duties” following a one-day trial in the capital Nouakchott, the sources said.
He was arrested after lobbing his shoe in the direction of a government spokesman during a press conference on June 30 and calling him a “minister of lies.”
Supporters of Ould Mohamed – many of them fellow members of an opposition youth group – jeered and loudly protested as the verdict was read out.
One of the accused’s lawyers, Brahim Ould Ebetty, told AFP they would appeal against the “senseless” verdict.