Right after sentencing Yahaya Sharif-Aminu to death, a13-year-old boy, recognized as Umar Farouq has also been found guilty of blasphemy and has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Kano.
Young Umar was reportedly made some religiously unacceptable statements about Allah in an argument with his friend.
Farouq was arrested after he allegedly made derogatory statements toward Allah in an argument with his friend and was sentenced by Judge Aliyu Kanu, in an Upper Sharia Court in Kano State.
This is coming after a Musician, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, was sentenced to death for blaspheming against Prophet Mohammed in a song he circulated on WhatsApp.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, however, faulted the judgment of the upper sharia court in sentencing the minor.
Kano is predominantly a Muslim northern Nigeria state, that has Sharia courts as well as Customary courts.
National Coordinator, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, Emmanuel Onwubiko, stated that the judgment did not conform with the human rights conventions and treaties to which Nigeria was a signatory.
The Convener, Coalition in Defence of Democracy and Constitution, Ariyo-Dare Atoye, also said,
“What is coming out of Kano is a challenge to section 10 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. We know that the current Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, is more or less not interested in the secularity of this country.
“What is going on in Kano is an attempt to restructure Nigeria through the back door to create a two-nation in one because the message they are sending to the international community is that there is a part of the country operating a different legal system.
