A 37-year-old self-proclaimed atheist, Mubarak Bala, was during the week sentenced to a 24-year jail term after pleading guilty to an 18-count charge of blasphemy levelled against him by the Kano State Government.
Bala was initially arrested in 2020 in Kaduna State, following a petition by a lawyer, S.S Umar, and other Islamic clerics and was transferred to Kano State.
The Kano State High Court convicted Bala after he pleaded guilty before the court on 18 charges.
The conviction has generated mixed reactions. Organisations including such as the Humanist Association of Nigeria, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), have described it as a sham court process.
Bala, who is the president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, was arrested at his home in Kaduna State on April 28, 2020, over his Facebook post considered to be critical of Prophet Mohammed and Islam.
In 2020, he compared popular Lagos pastor and president of Synagogue Church of Nations late Prophet T.B Joshua to Prophet Mohammed.
In another post, Bala said, “Whoever believes religion has been duped – If you can’t take blasphemy against Islam, criticism of its doctrines, this page is not for you. I have not even started ooo.”
“Religion insults human reason and conscience, duped me that I have another lifetime,” Mubarak said in his Facebook bio
His posts were greeted with threats of arrest for blasphemy in the comment section. Unperturbed, Bala said the threats were from ‘morons’ who should know better.
Days later, a group of lawyers petitioned the Kano State Police Command to prosecute Bala for insulting Prophet Muhammad. He renounced his Islamic faith in 2014.
The post was said to have caused outrage in many parts of Northern Nigeria where people are predominantly Muslims.
Bala was awarded Humanist Society Scotland’s Gordon Ross Humanist of the Year Award on 8 January 2021.
He became well-known in 2014 when the media reported that he had been forcibly drugged and committed to a psychiatric unit by his family members after telling them he was an atheist. He was released shortly thereafter and became an outspoken advocate for Nigerian atheist rights and freedoms.
While pleading with the court to tender justice with mercy on the case with blasphemy, Bala reportedly promised not to repeat the said blasphemous post, saying he did not know it would elicit the sort of reactions it got when he shared them.
Bala’s lawyer told the court that his client had health-related problems, for which he was treated at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano.