13 Year Old Sentenced To Ten Years Imprisonment For Blasphemy
A 13-year-old boy has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for blasphemy in northern Nigeria. Omar Farouq was convicted in a Sharia court in Kano State in northwest Nigeria after he was accused of using foul language toward Allah in an argument with a friend. He was sentenced on by the same court that recently sentenced a studio assistant Yahaya Sharif-Aminu to death for blaspheming Prophet Mohammed, according to lawyers.
Farouq’s punishment is in violation of the African Charter of the Rights and Welfare of a Child and the Nigerian constitution, said his counsel Kola Alapinni. “Blasphemy is not recognized by Nigerian law. It is inconsistent with the constitution of Nigeria.”
The lawyer said Farouq’s mother had fled to a neighboring town after mobs descended on their home following his arrest. “Everyone here is scared to speak and living under fear of reprisal attacks,” he said. UNICEF Wednesday issued a statement “expressing deep concern” about the sentencing.
“The sentencing of this child — 13-year-old Omar Farouq to 10 years in prison with menial labor is wrong,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF representative in Nigeria. “It also negates all core underlying principles of child rights and child justice that Nigeria and by implication, Kano State has signed on to.”
According to a copy of the court document seen by SaharaReporters, the teenager pleaded that the court should set aside the judgment because the law used to convict him was unconstitutional and conflicts with the Nigerian constitution, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
He added that the Sharia law is only applicable and permissible in Islamic theocracies or countries whose constitution allows for such laws and not in Nigeria — a secular state with constitutional democracy.
“The offense of blasphemy is no longer a cognisable offense in Nigerian by virtue of Section 10 standing alone or in conjunction with Sections 38 and 39 of the constitution respectively. A capital offense seeking to terminate human life must comply strictly and especially with the right to life provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The sentencing has stirred an outcry among Nigerians.
