A former president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria and an atheist, Mubarak Bala, has been released from prison after serving a four-year jail term for blasphemy.
Bala was arrested on April 28, 2020, at his Kaduna residence and transferred to Kano after he was accused of blasphemy, incitement, and breaching public peace. In 2022, the Kano State High Court sentenced him to 24 years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to 18 charges, including blasphemy. However, an appellate court later reduced the sentence, deeming the verdict of the lower court excessive.
However, following his release from prison, Bala expressed concerns about his personal safety. Speaking to the BBC, he revealed: “The freedom is here, but also, there is an underlying threat that I will now have to face. The concern about my safety is always there.”
Bala explained that his guilty plea was a strategic move to protect both himself and others. “What I did was saving not only my life but the lives of people in the state, especially those connected to my case, because they were also targets,” he said.
His appeal was based on four key grounds, namely the Kano State High Court’s lack of jurisdiction, the judge’s predisposition to convict, failure to acknowledge his guilty plea, and the misapplication of the law in issuing consecutive sentences.
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