Today, a Court of Appeal in Kano State has reduced Mubarak Bala’s 24-year prison sentence to five years. In April 2022, Bala, President of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, was sentenced by a Kano State High Court for acts likely to cause a breach of the peace.
In April 2020, Mubarak was arrested at his home following allegations of blasphemy made against him by a Kano lawyer. The lawyer alleged that one of Mubarak’s Facebook posts insulted the Prophet Muhammed.
After almost two years in prison and 14 months of illegal detention without charge, Mubarak appeared in court in April 2022 and pleaded guilty to acts likely to cause a breach of the peace. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison. It is widely believed that Mubarak made the guilty plea under duress.
Today, Mubarak appealed his sentence on four grounds: lack of jurisdiction by the Kano State High Court, the Judge’s predisposition to convict, failure to provide benefits of a guilty plea, and misapplication of law in sentencing him to consecutive terms.
His legal team now await the court’s written judgment before deciding on the next steps.
AAI believe Mubarak’s arrest and protracted illegal detention were part of Kano State’s attempt to intimidate those who seek to criticise Islam despite Nigeria’s Constitutional right to free speech. Mubarak should be released immediately and compensated for more than four years of imprisonment and for multiple gross infringements of his Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.
The post Mubarak Bala’s prison sentence reduced appeared first on Atheist Alliance International.
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