Popular Nigerian Atheist Sentenced to 24 Years in Jail for Blasphemy
Popular Nigerian atheist Mubarak Bala was on Tuesday sentenced to 24 years in jail for blasphemy.
Bala, an outspoken critic of religion, was sent to jail after pleading guilty to blasphemy charges in the largely Muslim northern state of Kano.
The charges were in connection with a Facebook post he made in April 2020, which authorities in Kano considered blasphemous and an insult to the Islam religion.
Bala told Kano High Court Judge Farouk Lawan that he was not coerced to plead guilty to 18 counts of blasphemy, saying he did it out of his own free will.
Bala’s attorney James Ibor told reporters that the sentencing was “very outrageous” and could be challenged.
“The sentence infringes his right as an atheist,” Ibor told Reuters.
Bala, who heads the Humanist Association of Nigeria, was arrested at his home in the northern Kaduna state two years ago before being moved to neighboring Kano, a majority Muslim and conservative state, to face blasphemy-related charges.
The sentencing puts a spotlight on religious freedoms in the populous West African country.
Comments (12)
Besides poverty, corruption, unequal distribution of wealth, and archaic beliefs that have no value in the modern world; Africa enslaves itself through religion. I will continue to praying to trees and grasshoppers because the natural world will not accuse me of blasphemy.
There's no freedom in not being a slave of God. Non Christians are enslaved by the enemy while touting freedom. Live free in Christ
I think it's the other way around. Religion enslaves people. Starts wars
True but Christianity isn't a religion but relationship with Jesus. Some ppl have made it a religion. Worst example is the Catholic church
Go Crypto:Did you say live free in Christ? When that peckerwood becomes a tree or blade of grass I will live free in him forever and ever ever.
Bill of rights derived from bible. Jesus liberated women
While Christ appears to be a radical liberal in many ways, his followers not so much. Most are preachy hypocrites and the worst, Moi comes to mind, preach piety whilst robbing, pillaging, grabbing with no thought to the poor and the downtrodden. Religion really is the opiate of the masses. Have you ever noticed the rich and powerful seem to be all in the same mold? For them religion is just a means to an end while for their subjects the end is virgins, living in boredom in some nebulous place in some future time. I wonder if the virgins pictured heaven as a place to service old men
Some live lavishly claiming it is biblically. Church should not be a collection but a distribution center. Giving to the poor and them that can't pay you back so God can pay you.
In heaven there are no sexual organs so no sex. God and man are spirit. No flesh in heaven
Most evil people I have ever met in my life is born Again HYPOCRITES..
THEY LOVE TO LIFT BIBLE THE MOST SOULESS SCUMS
BETTER BE FREINDS WITH DRUG DEALER THAN HYPOCRITES CHRISTIANS
What does God say on Blasphemy?What is interesting is that some Muslims say that there is no worldly punishment for blasphemy,much like being an apostate.Why cannot they come up with one solution?
" Religion is the opium of the people. It is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, and the soul of our soulless conditions."
- Karl Max
Mohammed and the Son of Mariam were not Africans. Therefore, as an African, you cannot belong to a religion that was not started by your ancestors.
Religion is a product of your language, culture, and history. If you abandon the religion of your ancestors, you are lost and hacked beyond redemption.
The following are signs of a lost African:
A lost African has a foreign name, speaks a non-African language with his family, friends, and relatives. Belongs to a foreign religion (worships a foreign god) whose native believers hate everything African (skin color, hair, language, culture, and indigenous religions). A lost African hates everything African including himself or herself.
Let us not elect a lost African as the next president of our beloved Kenya.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce2J5JPTuqI