Omar Farouq,13, was sentenced in Kano State, northern Nigeria. The Sharia court earlier found the boy guilty of blasphemy. His lawyer and UNICEF have called the sentence unconstitutional.
13-year-old boy is jailed for ten years for blasphemy by Nigerian Sharia court after he ‘used foul language towards Allah during an argument’
- Omar Farouq was sentenced on Tuesday by a court in the northern Kano State
- Lawyer claims sentence is unconstitutional under Nigerian and international law
- Farouq’s legal team say they have not been given access to him by the state
- UNICEF is calling for an urgent review of the case, calling the sentencing ‘wrong’
Alapinni said Kano State had not granted lawyers access to Farouq and that the boy’s mother was forced to flee to a neighbouring town when an angry crowd came to her home.
‘Everyone here is scared to speak and living under fear of reprisal attacks,’ he said.
On Wednesday, UNICEF released a statement saying it was ‘deeply concerned’ about the case and called on Kano’s Sharia court to urgently review it ‘with a view to reversing the sentencing’.
‘The sentencing of this child – 13-year-old Omar Farouk – to 10 years in prison with menial labour is wrong,’ said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.
‘It also negates all core underlying principles of child rights and child justice that Nigeria – and by implication, Kano State – has signed on to.’
