Blasphemy: Kano Appeal court reserves date for judgement

A Kano High Court (Appeal Division) has reserved judgement on 2 appeal cases of blasphemy.

The cases are those of 22-year-old Yahaya Aminu Sharif sentenced to death by an Upper Shariah Court and a 13-year-old boy, Umar Faruk, sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

At commencement of the court sittings yesterday, the appellant counsels led by Barrister Kola Alapinni urged the court to set aside the judgement of the lower courts on grounds that their client was not given fair hearing just as the procedures of which he was tried violated the constitution of the federation.

On her part, the state counsel, Barrister Aisha Mahud, urged the court to affirm the conviction of the lower court and dismiss the appeal.

In his ruling, the presiding judge, Justice Nasiru Saminu, said judgment had been reserved and a date would be communicated to both parties.

There was heavy security presence at the court which was equally filled with lawyers, human rights activists, journalists as well as several interested parties.

Daily Trust recalled that Shariff Yahaya Aminu was convicted on a one-count charge of insulting religious creed, contrary to Section 382 (6) of the Kano State Sharia Penal Code Law 2000.

Aminu committed the offence via a WhatsApp post on February 28, 2020, in which he called the Holy prophet a ‘mushrik (proclaiming other gods)’.

A mushrik, according to askislampedia.com, “Is a person who believes in another deity together with Allah, the Almighty, and who demonstrates this by dedicating acts of worship, such as kneeling, prostration, supplication, slaughtering or any other act of worship, to a being other than Allah, the Almighty.”

Other online definitions said the term is used interchangeably with the word kafir, an Arabic word meaning infidel or unbeliever.

The prosecutor, Inspector Aminu Yargoje, told the court that the said post was intended to create ill feelings among the Muslim faithful in the state.