Nigeria – U.N. rights experts have asked Nigeria to release a 22-year-old singer who was condemned to death over an alleged blasphemous song, and said the sentence broke international law.
Yahaya Aminu Sharif was sentenced last month by a sharia court in Kano, the commercial hub of Nigeria’s mostly Muslim north after he performed the song and shared it on WhatsApp.
“Music is not a crime,” read a joint statement from the group of U.N. rapporteurs.
“Application of the death penalty for artistic expression or for sharing a song on the internet is a flagrant violation of international human rights law, as well as of Nigeria’s constitution,” said Karima Bennoune, special rapporteurs on cultural rights.
The rights experts said Nigeria should overturn the death sentence and guarantee the singer’s safety while he launched an appeal. Protested enraged by the song burnt down Sharif’s family home on March 4.
A spokesman for the Kano state judiciary said the decision was taken with legal backing, adding that he was unaware of the appeal.
“If we are requested to release him, it has to be through legal procedure,” said spokesperson Baba Jibo Ibrahim.
The head of Poland’s Auschwits Memorial has written to Nigeria’s president asking him to pardon Sharif and offering to serve part of the jail term himself.
