New Telegraph

Blasphemy: A’Court sets aside Kano singer’s conviction, orders retrial

Appeal Court has set aside the conviction of a singer, Yahya Sharif Aminu, who reportedly blasphemed Prophet Mohammed. The court, presided over by Justice Nuradeen Sagir, also ordered a retrial of the case. Justice Sagir, who is the state Chief Judge (CJ), and his co-penalist, Justice Nasiru Saminu, ruled that the first trial was fraught with irregularities and the appellant was not given a fair legal representation.

The judge submitted that the judgement by an Upper Sharia Court Hausawa Filin Hocky contravened Sections 2, 6, 9 of the ACJN and that was done in nullity. The court ordered that the case be retried at the same court but that the appellant should be given fair hearing and be fully legally represented.

Aminu was sentenced to death by hanging by an Upper Sharia Court on October 8, 2020, dousing serious tension, which enveloped Kano at the time. However, his lawyer filed an appeal at the Appeal Court on October 15, 2020, challenging the death penalty. In the same vein, the conviction of Abdul Umar Faruk on alleged degirotary remarks on the Prophet of Islam was also set aside as the court believed that the person in question was a minor and he was not be given fair hearing. Delivering judgement in the case against Faruk, who was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by an Upper Sharia Court Hausawa Filin Hocky, Justice Sagir and Justice Saminu, discharged and acquitted the appellant on the grounds that his conviction was done in a rush. The court was, however, guarded by armed security agents in anticipation of any uncertainty. Faruk was accused of making derogatory remarks on the Prophet of Islam sometimes in August 2020 in Kano

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