A Kano State High Court on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, sentenced a Kano-born atheist, Mubarak Bala, to 24 years imprisonment for blasphemy.
37-year-old Bala was earlier arraigned on an 18-count charge bordering on blasphemy, incitement, contempt of religion and breach of public peace.
The defendant had pleaded guilty to the charges.
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Delivering judgment, Justice Farouk Lawan, sentenced the defendant to 24 years imprisonment. The judge also ordered that the sentence term would commence from the day that the convict was arrested.
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He also ordered that the sentences for all the 18 charges for which Mubarak Bala was convicted should run concurrently.
Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Mr Muhammad Sani, told the court that the convict had on April 28, 2020, made a blasphemous post on his Facebook page.
Sanusi said the post was against Allah (SWA) and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and had caused a major outrage in the city of Kano, where the convict hails from. According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened the provision of Sections 114 and 210 of the Penal Code.
The Defence Counsel, Mr James Ibor, pleaded for leniency on behalf of his client, who concurred and promised not to repeat the blasphemous comments.
