An Appeal Court sitting in Kano, Wednesday, dismissed the appeal challenging the death sentence on 23-year-old Kano singer, Aminu Shariff, accused of blasphemy two years ago.
In a majority decision delivered by Justice Abubakar Lamido and affirmed by Justice B. M. Ugo, yesterday, the appellate court upheld the verdict of the lower court headed by Justice Nasiru Saminu of the high court, for a retrial.
Yahaya Aminu Sharif was convicted of having shared a blasphemous message on WhatsApp and was sentenced to death in August 2020 by a sharia court.
The high court in Kano threw out the conviction and ordered a retrial but Sharif appealed, challenging the constitutionality of the religious law.
The lower court, which dismissed the death sentence on Shariff, insisted that the conviction lacked merit because he was not given legal representation to defend himself.
The defendant was returned for re-trial and the defence counsel proceeded to appeal court to seek outright discharge and acquittal of the accused.
The appellate court also dismissed the argument of the defence challenging the legality of the Kano Sharia Law 2020, which the justices unanimously agreed as constitutional law of the country.
“The appeal is devoid of merit and is therefore dismissed,” Lamido said in a ruling delivered via Zoom.