In Nigeria, you can be put to death under the law for the “cri-me” of blasphemy. Sufi musici-an Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, current-ly imprisoned for blasphemy, has petitioned the Nigerian Supreme Court to put an end to his criminal case, which centres on his sharing religious lyrics on the popular messaging platform WhatsApp. For exerci-sing his fundamental rights to free expression and reli-gious freedom, Yahaya’s life is on the line. This potentially land-mark case could abolish once and for all Northern Nigeria’s Sharia blasphemy law — an urgently needed step for the peaceful co-existence of faiths in the country.
In March 2020 Yahaya shared song lyrics via WhatsApp that others viewed as insulting to the Prophet Muhammad. His house was burned to the ground by a mob, and he was promptly arrest-ed and charged with blasphemy under the Sharia Penal Code of Kano State. Without legal repre-sentation, he was tried, convict-ed and sentenced to death by hanging by a local Sharia judge.
Nobody should be punished, much less killed, for their religi-ous ideas. Any person of faith or no faith at all can be sanctioned, and even killed, as a result of a blasphemy accusation. In a country of over 200 million, split nearly evenly between Christians and Muslims, everyone stands to lose under these laws. Their abolishment would dramatically improve the prospects for human rights in Nigeria.