A Court of Appeal sitting in Kano has reduced the 24-year sentence handed to an atheist, Mubarak Bala, over blasphemy to five years.
A Kano State High Court sitting in Audu Bako sentenced Bala, the President of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, to 24 years imprisonment in April 2022 for committing blasphemy against Allah and Prophet Muhammad.
Unsatisfied with the judgment, Bala appealed the 24-year prison sentence.
He had instructed his lawyers to appeal the sentence on four grounds.
The four grounds of the appeal are: “Lack of jurisdiction of the Kano State High Court; the Judge’s predisposition to convict as indicated in the delivery of his ruling; failure to accord Bala the benefits of a guilty plea; and misapplication of law in sentencing Bala to consecutive terms.”
When the matter came up on Monday, the lead judgment delivered by Justice Usman Alhaji Musale, however, reduced the jail term.