A Sharia court in the state of Kano on Monday said it had found a 22-year-old musician, Yahaya Aminu Sharif, guilty of using derogatory expressions against the Prophet Mohammed in one of his songs and sentenced him to death by hanging.
Sharif had reportedly broadcast the song on WhatsApp in March, prompting angry rioters to burn down his family house.
Media reports said that it wasn’t immediately clear how the lyrics violated the local blasphemy law and Sharif may appeal the verdict.
Speaking to AFP, the spokesperson for the Kano region justice ministry, Baba-Jibo Ibrahim,
said that Sharif had legal representation during the trial that went on for four months.
The trial was reportedly held behind closed doors for security reasons.
Sharif is the second person to receive a death sentence for blasphemy since several states
in northern Nigeria reintroduced a stricter version of the Sharia law in the early 2000s.
Many have also had their limbs amputated under the law.
Kano is one of the regions in the north where the Islamic law
runs parallel to the state and federal justice system.
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