An Abuja-based Human Rights group, Concerned Nigerians, has berated a Kano Shariah Court for sentencing to death by hanging of Kano based musician, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu for blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad.
The group’s spokesman, Theophilus Abu Agada on Tuesday said the court’s sentence is an abuse of human rights and also repulsive to natural justice, equity and good conscience and a gross violation of his rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and expression.
Agada said: “We condemn in strong terms, the death sentence by hanging for a Kano-based artiste, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, for blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad.
“The injustice faced by non-religious and even religious people in some parts of Nigeria is unbecoming. Every Nigerian, irrespective of their belief, should be allowed to practice whatever they believe without being arrested, detained and sentenced to death.
“It is hypocritical on the part of religious and political class to always hound vulnerable Nigerians on trivial matters while they commit the most heinous crimes against God and humanity.”
According to the group, the existence of death penalty for blasphemy was a prime facie violation of the rights to freedom of thought and expression, and pointed out how the injustices faced by both religious and non-religious people alike must stop.
