U.S Berates Nigeria Over Constant Detention Of Citizens For Blasphemy
The United States has chastised the Nigerian government has been chastised by the United Goverment over its constant conviction of citizens of blasphemy and sentencing them to long-term imprisonment and death.
Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, made this known during the release of the 2020 International Religious Freedom Report this week.
He also noted that the Nigerian government has not punished anyone for the “massacre” of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shiites.
“In Nigeria, courts continue to convict people of blasphemy, sentencing them to long-term imprisonment or even death. Yet the government has still not brought anyone to justice for the military’s massacre of hundreds of Shia Muslims in 2015,” Blinken said.
Religious freedom is a human right and freedom is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adding that America will continue to defend freedom of faith globally, Blinken stressed.
“Religious freedom, like every human right, is universal. All people, everywhere, are entitled to it no matter where they live, what they believe, or what they don’t believe.
“Religious freedom can’t be fully realised unless other human rights are respected, and when governments violate their people’s right to believe and worship freely, it jeopardizes all the others,” he noted.
It was recounted that the Shiites have for over five years been regularly taking to the streets particularly in Abuja to demand the release of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat.
The couple has been in the possession of security agents since December 2015 after a bloody clash between members of the group and soldiers in the convoy of the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, in Zaria, Kaduna State.
On the case of blasphemy, a Facebook user, Mubarak Bala, was apprehended and jailed in Kaduna on February 28, 2020, for alleged blasphemous posts about Islam.
A 35-year-old atheist had also spent months in custody without trial for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammed.
Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, a Kano-based musician, was also indicted of committing blasphemy against the Prophet in a song he circulated via WhatsApp in March 2020. He was later sentenced to death by hanging by a Kano Upper Shari’a Court.
