The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
has faulted the judgment of an Upper Sharia Court in Kano State sentencing a
13-year-old boy, Umar Farouq, to 10 years in prison for making derogatory
statements toward Allah in an argument with a friend.
Farouq was convicted on August 10, 2020, by Aliyu Kanu, the same
judge who sentenced a Musician, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, to death for blaspheming
Prophet Mohammed.
Baba-Jibo Ibrahim,
spokesman for Kano Region Justice Ministry, said the court handed down the
death sentence as enshrined in Islamic laws based on irrefutable evidence and
the convict’s admission of guilt.
The PUNCH reports that although Farouq is a minor by Nigerian
law and should not have been tried as an adult, Islamic canons regard anyone
who has begun puberty as an adult.
Kano,
a predominantly Muslim northern Nigerian state, has Islamic Sharia courts that
function alongside civil courts and introduced Sharia law in 2000.
But the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom has condemned the blasphemy laws in Nigeria.
The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan Federal Government
entity established by the US Congress to monitor, analyse, and report threats
to religious freedom abroad.
In a statement in reaction to the judgment, the US commission
condemned the death sentence handed to Sharif-Aminu for allegedly insulting the
Prophet Mohammed.
The PUNCH reports that although Farouq is a minor by Nigerian
law and should not have been tried as an adult, Islamic canons regard anyone
who has begun puberty as an adult.
Kano, a predominantly Muslim northern Nigerian state, has
Islamic Sharia courts that function alongside civil courts and introduced
Sharia law in 2000.
But the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom has condemned the blasphemy laws in Nigeria.
The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan Federal Government
entity established by the US Congress to monitor, analyse, and report threats
to religious freedom abroad.
In a statement in reaction to the judgment, the US commission
condemned the death sentence handed to Sharif-Aminu for allegedly insulting the
Prophet Mohammed.
USCIRF Commissioner, Frederick Davie, stated, “It is
unconscionable that Sharif-Aminu is facing a death sentence merely for
expressing his beliefs artistically through music. The US Senate should work
swiftly to pass Resolution 458, which calls for the global repeal of heresy,
blasphemy, and apostasy laws.”
Also, the President of the African Bar Association, Mr Hannibal
Uwaifo, described the verdict on Farouq as unconstitutional, calling on the
Attorney General of the Federation to stop the Sharia court from making a
mockery of Nigerian on the international scene.
Uwaifo said, “I call on the Attorney General of the Federation
to step in and to stop this kind of sectional court from making mockery
of Nigeria. This is a country where people are stealing billions of naira and
being given a pat on the back; then you say someone committed blasphemy,
according to your own religion, and then you sentence him to death or sentence
a teenager to 10 years’ imprisonment. I think we should stop making a laughing
stock.”
In the same vein, two civil society groups have condemned the
Shari’a court verdict.
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