A Kano High Court on Tuesday sentenced the Kano-born atheist, Mubarak Bala, to 24 years imprisonment after pleading guilty to all the 18-count charges leveled against him.
Bala, who is the President of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, was arrested at his home in Kaduna on April 28, 2020 and brought to Kano, where complaints of blasphemy and incitement were lodged against him.
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Recall that Bala was sometimes in 2020 posted blasphemous statement on his Facebook account tagged Mubarak Bala, causing outrage among Muslims
There has been a campaign for his release or trial, with activists saying he was out of touch with his wife and lawyer.
But appearing before Justice Farouk Lawan of Kano High Court 4, Audu Bako Secretariat on Tuesday, Bala pleaded guilty to all the charges.
When the judge asked him whether he knew the consequences of his guilty plea, Bala insisted not to change his initial plea.
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Bala’s lawyer, James Ibor, had earlier tried to persuade his client to change his plea, but he (Bala) insisted that he was guilty of charges.
The lawyer, however, cited frustration and fear as reasons for his client’s guilty plea, saying his client had been in prison for two years.
But Bala, who appeared unruffled, raised his hand and told the court that he was guilty as charged.
In his plea of leniency, Bala however said the intent of his social media posts was not to cause violence. He therefore promised not to repeat the blasphemous posts in future.
Recall that Bala was sometimes in 2020 posted blasphemous statement on his Facebook account tagged Mubarak Bala
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Justice Lawan, therefore, sentenced Bala to 24 years imprisonment.
He, however, ordered that the terms be commenced when the convict was first arrested and similarly ordered the term should similarly run concurrently.
