A Sharia court in Kano has sentenced a 13-year-old boy to 10 years in prison for blaspheming Prophet Muhammad.
Umar Farouq was convicted after being accused of using “disparaging language on Allah” during a disagreement with his friend.
The teenage boy was sentenced by Aliyu Kanu, the same judge who passed a death sentence on a musician Yahaya Sharif-Aminu for blasphemy.
In a statement on Wednesday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called on the Kano State Government to urgently reverse the sentencing of Farouq.
UNICEF representative in Nigeria Peter Hawkins said the sentence contradicts the United Nations convention on the rights of the child, which Nigeria ratified in 1991.
“The sentencing of this child –13-year-old Omar Farouk to 10 years in prison with menial labour is wrong,” he said.
“It also negates all core underlying principles of child rights and child justice that Nigeria and by implication, Kano State – has signed on to.
“The sentence is in contravention of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child, which Nigeria ratified in 1991. It is also a violation of the African charter on the rights and welfare of the child – which Nigeria ratified in 2001, and Nigeria’s Child Rights Act 2003, which domesticates Nigeria’s international obligations to protect children’s right to life, survival and development.”
