A court in Kano state, Nigeria, has acquitted a Muslim man, Faruq Umah, who was earlier sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for the offence of blasphemy against Allah.
The high court of appeal sitting at Audu Bako secretariat discharged and acquitted Faruq Umar of all charges earlier held by a Sharia Court in the state.
Faruq Umar was convicted and sentenced to jail by upper Shari’a Court judge Aliyu Mohammad Kani, Filling Hockey division last year for violating section 382 of the Sharia penal code law 2000.
Faruq was 13 year old when he committed the said offense but the judgment was delivered till 2020 when he was 17 years old.
In his judgment on the appeal, Justice Nasiru Saminu, nullified the judgment of the lower court for lacking credibility.
Nigerian singer sentenced to death for blasphemy in Kano state
In August, 2020, a musician in Kano was also sentenced to death by hanging for blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad.
An upper Sharia court in the Hausawa Filin Hockey area of the state said Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, 22, was guilty of committing blasphemy for a song he circulated via WhatsApp in March.
Mr Sharif-Aminu, however, did not deny the charges.
Judge Khadi Aliyu Muhammad Kani said Sherif-Aminu could appeal against the verdict.
States across Muslim-majority northern Nigeria use both secular law and Sharia law, which does not apply to non-Muslims.
Only one of the death sentences passed by Nigeria’s Sharia courts has been carried out since they were reintroduced in 1999.
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