Kano court acquits 17-year-old jailed 10 years for blasphemy

Court

A Kano High Court of Appeal sitting at Audu Bako secretariat has nullified the 10-year jail term handed to Faruq Umar for allegedly blaspheming against Allah.

Mr Umar was convicted and sentenced to jail by an Upper Shari’a Court judge Aliyu Kani, Filling Hockey division in 2020 for violating section 382 of the Sharia penal code law 2000.

He was 13 years old when he committed the said offense but the judgment was delivered in 2020 when he was 17.

Umar was accused of using “disparaging language on Allah” during a disagreement with his friend.

The teenage boy was sentenced by the same judge who passed a death sentence on a musician Yahaya Sharif-Aminu for blasphemy.

Ruling on the appeal, Justice Nasiru Saminu said the lower court’s judgment lacked credibility.