Home Crime Unicef condemns jailing of 13-year-old boy for ‘blasphemy’
CrimeNewsPolitics

Unicef condemns jailing of 13-year-old boy for ‘blasphemy’

Share
Share

The United Nations International Children”s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has called on the Nigerian authorities to urgently review an Islamic court’s decision to sentence a 13-year-old boy to 10 years in prison for blasphemy.

The boy was convicted in August of making uncomplimentary remarks about God during an argument with a friend in northern Kano state.

Read also: Sharia: Gospel singer sentenced to death for blasphemy

Kano is one of 12 Nigerian states practising the Sharia legal system alongside the country’s secular laws.

Muslims form the majority in the north.

The 13-year-old’s sentencing “negates all core underlying principles of child rights and child justice that Nigeria – and by implication, Kano state – has signed on to,” said Peter Hawkins, Unicef’s representative in the West African state.

Read also: Ganduje vows to sign death warrant of singer convicted of blasphemy if…

On September 9, the boy’s lawyer, Kola Alapinni, said he had filed an appeal against the judgement.

“This is a violation of the African Charter of the Rights And Welfare of a Child. A violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he added.

He told the BBC that no date had been set for the appeal to be heard in court.

Twelve states in Nigeria’s Muslim-dominated north operate the Sharia system of justice, but only Muslims can be tried in its courts.

The Sharia system, which also has its own Court of Appeal, handles both civil and criminal matters involving Muslims and its judgements can also be challenged in Nigeria’s secular Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

Read also: Falana appeals against death sentence of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu at African Commission

The Sharia judges, known as “alkalis”, are learned in both Islamic and secular laws.

If a case involves a Muslim and a non-Muslim, the non-Muslim has the option of choosing where they want the case to be tried. The Sharia court can only hear the case if the non-Muslim gives written consent.

Sentences handed down by the courts include floggings, amputations and the death penalty.

 

Image caption: Islamic courts have their own police force in Kano

 

(BBC)

Please follow and like us:
Share

Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Start your career with NNPC Limited

Start your career with NNPC Limited
Start your career with NNPC Limited

Member

Don't Miss

How publisher of The Eagle Online became president of Media Cooperative Society

The publisher of The Eagle On-line, Dotun Oladipo, is the reigning president of Innovative Media Partners Cooperative Multipurpose Society...

‘How reliable are the public agencies involved?’ Netizen reacts to Union Bank’s Fire drill

Netizens raises concerns over the reliability of public agencies in real life fire outbreaks

Related Articles

How publisher of The Eagle Online became president of Media Cooperative Society

The publisher of The Eagle On-line, Dotun Oladipo, is the reigning president...

‘How reliable are the public agencies involved?’ Netizen reacts to Union Bank’s Fire drill

Netizens raises concerns over the reliability of public agencies in real life...

Reactions as Alex Iwobi releases new single

By Chioma Obinagwam British-Nigerian professional footballer, Alex Iwobi, has released a new...

Advertisements