UN rights experts urges Nigeria to free musician facing execution for blasphemy

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 17th May. UN human rights experts on Thursday called the Nigerian authorities to immediately release a singer who was convicted of blasphemy in 2020, in a press release issued in New York.

OHCHR stated that Sufi Muslim musician Yahaya Sharif-Aminu was sentenced to death by hanging for writing a song and sharing it on the social messaging service WhatsApp.

The experts said that “Although his death sentence was quashed by a court of appeal, we remain deeply concerned that Mr. Sharif-Aminu’s case will be re-prosecuted based on the same legal framework, the Kano State Sharia Penal Code Law, with serious risks that the death sentence will be confirmed.”

The experts said they remain deeply concerned that Mr. Sharif-Aminu has been in prison for too long for exercising his human rights and the Nigerian Supreme Court has taken up the matter.

They said that all people have the right to freedom of expression, and to religion or belief as well as to take part in cultural life and the development of their society through artistic expression, without fear of imprisonment, reprisals or execution.

They urged the Supreme Court to consider Mr. Sharif-Aminu’s case as a priority, and recommended that Nigeria establish a moratorium on the death penalty, with a view to completely abolishing it.