Kano: 13-Year-Old Sentenced To 10 Years In Jail For Blasphemy

A 13-year-old resident of Kano State, Umar Farouq, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for blasphemy.

The sentencing of the teenager has been criticised by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

According to the UN agency, the sentencing of Farouq is in violation of the United Nations convention on child rights that was signed on to by Nigeria in 1991.

Farouq was sentenced to jail by a Sharia Court in Kano after being accused of the use of "disparaging language on Allah" in a spat with a friend.

The pronouncement was passed by the Aliyu Kanu, the same judge that passed judgment on 22-year-old musician, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu for the same offence.

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In a statement, the representative of UNICEF in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, said, “The sentencing of this child –13-year-old Omar Farouk to 10 years in prison with menial labour is wrong,” he said in a statement.

“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.”