The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has spoken against the 10 years prison sentence handed to a 13-year-old boy by a Sharia Court in Kano state.
A boy whose name is Umar Farouq was convicted for uttering derogatory statements toward Allah while arguing with a friend.
He was found guilty by the court and was sentenced the same day Kano singer, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, was sentenced to death by hanging for blaspheming Prophet Mohammed.
Umar Farouq and Yahaya Sharif-Aminu were sentenced by the same judge, Aliyu Kanu. However, both sentences have been condemned by a lot of human rights groups and individuals.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has joined to speak against the blasphemy laws in Nigeria.
In a statement issued by the Commission in reaction to the judgment, the US commission criticized the death sentence handed to Sharif-Aminu for his alleged utterance against Prophet Mohammed.
The statement issued by USCIRF Commissioner, Frederick Davie, reads: “It is unconscionable that Sharif-Aminu is facing a death sentence merely for expressing his beliefs artistically through music. The US Senate should work swiftly to pass Resolution 458, which calls for the global repeal of heresy, blasphemy, and apostasy laws.”
In the same vien, the President of the African Bar Association, Hannibal Uwaifo, labeled the verdict as unconstitutional.
Uwaifo said: “I call on the Attorney General of the Federation to step in and to stop this kind of sectional court from making mockery of Nigeria.
“This is a country where people are stealing billions of naira and being given a pat on the back; then you say someone committed blasphemy, according to your own religion, and then you sentence him to death or sentence a teenager to 10 years’ imprisonment. I think we should stop making a laughing stock.”
