{"id":1784670,"date":"2022-12-23T07:47:52","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T12:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1784670"},"modified":"2022-12-23T07:48:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T12:48:06","slug":"as-christians-face-death-sentences-nigerian-court-can-and-should-overturn-its-dangerous-blasphemy-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/as-christians-face-death-sentences-nigerian-court-can-and-should-overturn-its-dangerous-blasphemy-law\/","title":{"rendered":"As Christians Face Death Sentences, Nigerian Court Can And Should Overturn Its Dangerous Blasphemy Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fas-christians-face-death-sentences-nigerian-court-can-and-should-overturn-its-dangerous-blasphemy-law%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1784670&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-22-at-8.32.30-PM.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>The United States Department of State has just issued its annual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/religious-freedom-designations-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">watchlist<\/a> of the world\u2019s worst religious freedom offenders, and strikingly, Nigeria did not make the cut. The country is among the most dangerous in the world to be a Christian, and daily we hear news of abuses imperiling the human rights of all Nigerians. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/investigates\/special-report\/nigeria-military-abortions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">breaking news<\/a>: Since at least 2013, the Nigerian military has conducted systematic, wide-scale forced abortions on at least 10,000 women and girls, many of which were kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet in spite of clear-cut evidence of mass human rights atrocities, the U.S. government remains silent, failing to designate Nigeria as a \u201ccountry of particular concern.\u201d Between January 2021 and March 2022, more than 6,000 Christians were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aciafrica.org\/news\/5682\/alarm-as-over-6000-christians-hacked-to-death-in-nigeria-in-fifteen-months-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">targeted<\/a> and killed in Nigeria. In May of this year, Christian student <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2022\/05\/a-christian-stoned-to-death-for-blasphemy-in-nigeria-when-will-it-end\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Deborah Yakubu<\/a> was stoned to death and her body burned in Sokoto State, Nigeria, after classmates deemed her WhatsApp messages blasphemous. Following this tragedy, <a href=\"https:\/\/morningstarnews.org\/2022\/10\/christian-woman-on-trial-for-blasphemy-in-northeast-nigeria\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rhoda Ya\u2019u Jatau,<\/a> a Christian woman from the northeast, is now on trial for blasphemy for sharing a WhatsApp message condemning Deborah\u2019s brutal killing. And earlier this year, humanist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscirf.gov\/religious-prisoners-conscience\/mubarak-bala\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mubarak Bala<\/a>\u00a0was sentenced to 24 years in prison for social media posts critical of Islam.<\/p>\n<p>What will it take to break the Biden administration\u2019s silence? Now, Nigeria is garnering international attention as a result of an upcoming case at its Supreme Court challenging a law criminalizing so-called \u201cblasphemous\u201d expression. You can be put to death under Nigerian law for this \u201ccrime.\u201d Musician <a href=\"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/nigeria-blasphemy-laws\/\">Yahaya Sharif-Aminu<\/a>, currently imprisoned and facing the death penalty for blasphemy charges, has petitioned the court to protect his fundamental human rights after being convicted under the Sharia Penal Code of Kano State.<\/p>\n<p>In March 2020, Yahaya shared song lyrics via WhatsApp. This simple act would forever change his life. Accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad for what he shared, his house was burned to the ground by a mob, and he was arrested and charged with blasphemy. Without the support of a lawyer, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced by a local Sharia judge to death by hanging.<\/p>\n<p>Innocent of any crime, Yahaya <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/Users\/KZorzi\/AppData\/Local\/Microsoft\/Windows\/INetCache\/Content.Outlook\/9DZN60RO\/link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed<\/a> his notice of appeal in November at the Supreme Court, and this potential landmark case could abolish once and for all Northern Nigeria\u2019s Sharia blasphemy law. <\/p>\n<p>Twenty years ago, the 12 states in Northern Nigeria introduced Sharia into their criminal law codes, despite the Nigerian Constitution\u2019s protections for religious freedom. These laws are only supposed to apply to Muslims, but leave little room for theological diversity among Muslims, and could potentially be applied to converts to Christianity or those who have left Islam. It is imperative that the Supreme Court bring justice to Yahaya, saving his life and offering much-needed legal clarity to end the horror of blasphemy laws for all in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>International law, including the international treaties to which Nigeria is bound as a party, is unambiguous \u2014 the right to religious freedom is for everyone, and nobody should be punished, much less killed, for what they believe. Moreover, Nigeria\u2019s own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.constituteproject.org\/constitution\/Nigeria_1999.pdf\">constitution<\/a> protects Yahaya\u2019s rights to free expression and religious freedom. Any person of faith or no faith at all can be penalized, and even killed, as a result of a blasphemy accusation. In a country of more than 200 million, split nearly evenly between Christians and Muslims, it is clear that all Nigerians stand to lose under the blasphemy regime.<\/p>\n<p>Blasphemy laws are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscirf.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2020%20Blasphemy%20Enforcement%20Report%20_final_0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not unique to Nigeria<\/a>. Approximately <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscirf.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2020%20Blasphemy%20Enforcement%20Report%20_final_0.pdf\">40 percent of countries in the world<\/a> have blasphemy laws in some form, and there are currently at least seven countries where a conviction for blasphemy can result in the death penalty. Nigeria has before it a crucial opportunity to step out as an international leader, serving as a model for the abolishment of these dangerous laws.<\/p>\n<p>The world awaits justice for Yahaya. Last week, the U.K. prime minister\u2019s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief, Fiona Bruce, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ADFIntl\/status\/1600890504018886656?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">urged<\/a> \u201cthe international human rights community to speak out on behalf of Sharif-Aminu and for Nigeria to repeal its blasphemy laws.\u201d As he fights for his life, let us remember that this is a fight for the human rights of all Nigerians, and stand with him in advocating for the rights of all people to express themselves without fear.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Paul Coleman is the author of Censored and serves as executive director of ADF International overseeing the global, alliance-building legal organization. ADF International is supporting the case of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu at the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Find him on Twitter @Paul_B_Coleman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nigeria has before it a crucial opportunity to step out as an international leader by abolishing once and for all its Sharia blasphemy law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1642,"featured_media":1784673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[6962,10847,11358,11082,7072,4733,5359,6499,4378,6919,6550,6547,11359,8978,8837,3818],"class_list":["post-1784670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-the","tag-and","tag-blasphemy","tag-can","tag-christians","tag-court","tag-dangerous","tag-death","tag-face","tag-federalist","tag-its","tag-law","tag-nigerian","tag-overturn","tag-sentences","tag-should"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1642"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1784670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1784673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1784670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1784670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1784670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}