A Kano State High Court (appeal division), on Thursday, January 21, 2021, declared the death sentence imposed on Yahya Sharif Aminu, a Kano-based singer, convicted for blasphemy, as invalid.
Eelive.ng had reported that Judge Khadi Aliyu Muhammad Kani of a Sharia court in the Hausawa Filin Hockey area of Kano, sentenced Sharif-Aminu to death for blasphemy.
The Kano-based singer was found guilty of blasphemy, after he circulated one of songs via WhatsApp.
The song, according to critics, praised an imam from the Tijaniya Muslim brotherhood to the extent it elevated him above the Prophet Muhammad.
Nuraddeen Sagir, the state chief judge, who presided over the case after it appeared in court again for appeal, stated that the death sentence is invalid due to the fact that Sharif-Aminu’s trial was full of irregularities as the appellant was not given legal representation.
According to him, the judgment of an upper Sharia court contravened section 2-6-9 of the administration of the criminal justice act.
The judge ordered that the case be re-tried at the same court and that the appellant should be given fair hearing.
Sagir also ordered that the appellant, who should be tried by another judge, should get full legal representation.
