Religion of PEACE indeed !!! Nigerian Singer Yahaya Aminu Sharif sentenced to death for 'blasphemy'
An Islamic court in northern Nigeria on
Monday sentenced a singer to death for blasphemy against the Prophet
Mohammed, judicial officials said.
An Upper Islamic Sharia court in the city of Kano ordered 22-year-old
Yahaya Aminu Sharif to die by hanging for derogatory expressions
against the Prophet in one of his songs, spokesman for the Kano region
justice ministry, Baba-Jibo Ibrahim, told AFP.
Sharia courts in majority Muslim northern Nigeria have handed down
death sentences for adultery, murder and homosexuality before but to
date no executions have been carried out.
"The court handed down the death
sentence as enshrined in Islamic laws based on irrefutable evidence and
the convict's admission of guilt," Ibrahim said.
Sharif was accused of blaspheming the Prophet in a song he shared on
social media in March, which caused riots in the city. Mobs burnt the
singer's family home and took to the streets demanding his prosecution,
leading to his arrest.
Ibrahim said Sharif had legal representation during the four-month
trial, which was held behind closed doors for security reasons. Sharif, a
Muslim singer, belongs to a separate branch of Tijaniyya Sufi order,
whose beliefs are considered heretical because of their different
interpretation of some basic Islamic principles.
His conviction is the second death sentence to be passed for
blasphemy since around a dozen states in the north reintroduced a
stricter version of Sharia law in early 2000s, where Sharia courts run
parallel to state and federal justice system.
Other blasphemy rulings
Abdul Nyass, a Sufi Muslim cleric, was sentenced to death in 2015 by a
Kano Sharia court for blasphemy against the Prophet in his preachings.
Nyass drew public outrage when he made derogatory remarks against the
Prophet before a gathering of disciples as they marked the birthday of
the former leader of the Tijaniyya Sufi order, Ibrahim Nyass.
Nyass is also a member of the Tijjaniyya Sufi order. The same court
on Monday sentenced a 13-year-old boy, Umar Farouk, to 10 years in
prison with menial labor for blasphemy, judicial official Ibrahim said.
He said Farouk was found guilty of using foul language against God during an argument with a friend.
"The court considered the boy's age as a minor and sentenced him to
10-year jail term as a penitence and to make him reform," he said.
Both convicts have one month to appeal the sentences.