Nigerian singer accused of blasphemy against Islam freed on bail

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A Nigerian court has reportedly released singer Ahmad Abdul on bail after he was arrested last week on allegations of blasphemy against Islam.

BBC reported on Tuesday that Ahmad Abdul was detained by the police after the censorship board, an arm of the religious institution that governs the majority Muslim state, received several complaints concerning a song titled Barhama – gwaska (“Barhama – the man of extraordinary qualities”).

In the song, the 35-year-old had praised a figure known as Barhama, and attributed qualities to him to such an extent that some Muslims in the country northern state of Kano perceived it as blasphemous.

Abdul maintained that he didn’t realise the song violated Islamic teachings, and  apologised to the Muslim community and the state government.

Last year, another singer Yahaya Sharif-Aminu trended on social media after he was found him guilty of blasphemy.

According to CNN Sharif-Aminu, 22, was sentenced to death by hanging by an upper Sharia court in Kano in August after being convicted of blasphemy by an Islamic court in northern Nigeria.

The judgment document stated that Sharif-Aminu was convicted for making “a blasphemous statement against Prophet Mohammed in a WhatsApp Group”, which was contrary to the Kano State Sharia Penal Code and was an offence which carried the death sentence.
The recording was shared widely, causing mass outrage in the highly conservative, majority Muslim, state, according to various reports.

A higher court, however, quashed the death sentence in January, and freed him.

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Compiled by Betha Madhomu 

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