Atheist serving 5 instead of 24 years jail time for blasphemy
Mubarak Bala’s online posts in 2020 disparage Islam, the Prophet Mohammed and God.
Daily TribuneMubarak Bala’s online posts in 2020 disparage Islam, the Prophet Mohammed and God.
Amina Ahmed, wife of Mubarak Bala, an outspoken atheist who was charged with blasphemy, displays her husband's photo at their home in Abuja, Nigeria.
Kola Sulaimon / AFP
KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — An appeals court in northern Nigeria has commuted a 24-year jail term handed to an atheist for blasphemy to a five-year sentence, one of his lawyers told Agence France-Presse Tuesday.
The case of Mubarak Bala highlighted the complex issue of blasphemy in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria where Sharia law runs alongside common law and criticism of Islam is highly sensitive.
Bala, who heads a Nigerian humanist association, was given a 24-year sentence by a high court in Kano State in April 2022 for online posts he wrote over several months in 2020 disparaging Islam, the Prophet Mohammed and God, according to court proceedings seen by AFP.
Bala, arrested in his home in neighboring Kaduna and detained in Kano, pleaded guilty to all 18 charges brought against him at the high court despite attempts by the judge and his lawyer to make him change his plea.
His lawyer criticized the judgement as “outrageous” at the time and said they would appeal if Bala gave his approval.
In an online judgement released on Monday, an appellate court reduced the 24-year sentence to five, Mohammed Buba, one of Bala’s defense counsels, told AFP.
“This means Mubarak will serve only five years in prison and will then be free,” Buba said.
