Mohamed Lemine Ch'bih Ould Cheikh Melainine

Mohamed Lemine Ch'bih Ould Cheikh Malainine (born 12 December 1951, in Atar) is a Mauritanian politician. He has served as a former leader of the Qadiriyya Islamic brotherhood.

Early life and education Ould Cheikh Melainine was born in Atar, then part of the French Colony of Mauritania, on 12 December 1951. He received his primary and secondary education in Mauritania, before travelling to France for higher studies. He received his bachelors, master's, and doctoral degrees from the University of Nancy in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

During his youth Ould Cheikh Melainine seemingly had some Marxist inclinations.

Arrest, trial, and imprisonment On 8 April 2001 Ould Cheikh Melainine, along with fellow FP members Mukhtar Ould Haibetna and Bouba Ould Hassan were arrested. The trio were held incommunicado for the next 30 days and were charged with conspiring to overthrow the Mauritanian Government, plotting acts of terrorism, plotting to kidnap businessmen, and of taking illegal political funds from Gaddafi's Libya. The Ould Taya Government often accused its opponents of collusion with Libya, which was then still under economic sanctions. At times, opposition to the arrests took the form of violent protests, which required massive police intervention. Many defense lawyers inside and outside Mauritania offered to help the trio, although possible Government intervention in the trial made this difficult, with the trial itself being moved on 10 May 2001 some 850 kilometers from Nouakchott to the remote town of Ayoun el Atrous. Ould Cheikh Melainine was given only limited access to his lawyers, and Moussa Maiga, a Malian lawyer who had travelled to Ayoun el Atrous to take part in the defense team, was forced to leave Mauritania. Offers of legal help also came from France, Mali, Morocco, and Senegal.

The trial of Mohamed Lemine Ch'bih Ould Cheikh Melainine took place from 12 to 14 June 2001. The Prosecution didn't offer any circumstantial evidence, with the focus being on confessions given by the three, as well as oral testimony from two Government informants, who were deemed "non-credible" by some independent experts. As a result, Ould Cheikh Melainine was released, along with his two co-detainees, on 23 August 2003. By this point Ould Cheikh Melainine had served approximately half of his sentence.

Following his release Ould Cheikh Melainine lived quietly in Nouakchott, although he became involved in politics again after President Ould Taya was overthrown in a coup d'état in August 2005.

He ran in the 2007 presidential election, although obtaining only a very small fraction of the popular vote; 2,111 votes, or 0.28%.