Yahaya Sharif-Aminu,
a Nigerian Sufi musician, is battling a retrial ordered by the Kano State High
Court after his 2020 death sentence for blasphemy was overturned. His
legal team is now pushing the Supreme Court to strike down harsh provisions of sharia
penal codes that prescribe the death penalty for blasphemy and adultery.
Case Background
Sharif-Aminu was sentenced to death by a sharia court
in Kano State for sharing WhatsApp lyrics that allegedly compared a
Muslim leader he admired to the Prophet Mohammed. His lawyers argue the
punishment violates both Nigeria’s constitution and its international
human rights obligations.
“We cannot have aspects of the sharia penal code that
offend the constitution on our statute books,” said Kola Alapinni,
Sharif-Aminu’s lawyer, after the court granted more time to file an appeal.
Sharia Law in Nigeria
Although Nigeria’s federal system is secular, 12
northern states enforce sharia law alongside common law. Harsh punishments
such as death by stoning for blasphemy or adultery are rarely enforced; most
death sentences over the past 25 years have either been overturned or left
pending on appeal.
However, vigilante mobs in the region have been known
to mete out violent extrajudicial punishments against individuals
accused of blasphemy.
International Pressure
Sharif-Aminu’s case has drawn global attention, with the
U.S., EU, and UN voicing support. In April, the ECOWAS Court of Justice
ruled that Kano’s death penalty for blasphemy was “excessive and
disproportionate”, but Nigeria has yet to enforce the decision.
Despite international pressure, Kano state officials
remain defiant. Lawyer Lamido Abba Sorondinki, representing the state
government, insisted: “Anybody who has uttered any word that touches the
integrity of the holy prophet, we’ll punish him.”
What’s Next
Sharif-Aminu remains in detention while his Supreme
Court appeal proceeds. Human rights advocates say the ruling could set a
landmark precedent on whether sharia-based death penalties for blasphemy
can coexist with Nigeria’s constitutional and international commitments.
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