“A Nigerian court has sentenced an atheist to 24 years in prison for making social media posts it found to be blasphemous against Islam in the West African nation’s northern region.” Notice how such judgements rarely indicate what the “offender” actually said about Islam. Mubarak Bala, who was deemed an apostate (a crime worthy of death, according to the Sharia) was beaten and coerced into finally confessing to “blasphemy.”
Westerners who offend Islam are also being punished for Facebook posts and comments deemed offensive to Islam, albeit not as harshly as in Nigeria. Marginalization and job loss are now the method of persecution against many who offend Islam in the West.
There is freedom to criticize Judaism and Christianity, but not Islam, in Nigeria, in Pakistan and any Islamic country, and this is increasingly the case in Western countries, too. Many Christian and Jewish leaders in the West accept this dhimmi role and then wonder why antisemitism and anti-Christian sentiments are on the rise. The West is moving in a direction that increasingly resembles the situation in areas where Sharia is enforced.
“Nigerian atheist jailed for blasphemy over Facebook posts,” Al Jazeera, April 5, 2022:
A Nigerian court has sentenced an atheist to 24 years in prison for making social media posts it found to be blasphemous against Islam in the West African nation’s northern region.
Mubarak Bala, a former Muslim, was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges of blasphemy after a lengthy trial during which he spent nearly two years in prison.
Bala is the president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria and activists have said his conviction illustrates the risks of being openly faithless in northern Nigeria, which is predominantly Muslim.
Prosecutors in northern Kano state accused Bala of making Facebook posts that insulted the Prophet Muhammad and the religion of Islam, and attempted to “cause a breach of the public peace”, according to court documents.
Bala long maintained his innocence of the charges of blasphemy but he changed his plea to guilty only after “enormous pressure for the past few years”, said Leo Igwe, founder of the Nigerian Humanist Association.
‘Judge is compromised’
Bala was tried in a secular court but could have risked a death sentence in Nigeria’s Islamic courts that operate in other parts of the country’s north.“He thinks the judge is compromised … and that he would rather just have closure,” Bala’s lawyer James Ibori said.
Bala’s prolonged stay in prison and eventual conviction caused anger among some Nigerians and activists who accused authorities of a flawed prosecution process. He should not have been charged under Kano state law, Ibori said, because “he was not in Kano when the offence was allegedly committed”.
While in prison, Bala had been denied access to healthcare, kept in solitary confinement, and forced “to worship the Islamic way”, said Ibori.
The Kano state government denied any wrongdoing in the trial…
Johnny B says
We should definitely pay much more attention to what is going on in Nigeria. What is going on there today will happen here in the West tomorrow. I know the media doesn’t care because it’s primarily Christians who’re being persecuted, so it simply doesn’t fit the narrative. The other day I was talking to a colleague of mine at work and at one point we were talking about my faith and I told him that actually Christianity today is the most persecuted religion in the world. His reply was simply, “No, there are no Christians being persecuted today, that’s ridiculous” and then he suddenly got busy with work.
Johnny B says
But as this case proves, you don’t have to be Christian to be crushed as an “Islamophobe”; they can hardly pin him down as a racist!!!??? But 24!!! years…. Truly horrific and evil 🙁
James Lincoln says
Johnny B,
Tragically, your work colleague is grossly misinformed.
Suggested that he start reading Jihad Watch – and fact check every feature article that deals with Christian persecution.
somehistory says
Mr. Raymond Ibrahim writes frequently on this subject and lists the countries with the accounts of it happening. We see reports here every week of it happening in nigeria, but Mr. Ibrahim shows it is happening everywhere.
gravenimage says
Grimly true, Johnny–many in the West have not idea that Christians are being persecuted and mass murdered in Dar-al-Islam. This does not fit their “narrative”.
mgoldberg says
Quoting Mohammed, in the Qur’an, in the hadiths, is blasphemous… according to the Islamic rules of proper conduct. And if this is pointed out…. why it’s denoted as ‘Islamophobia’.
This is how the hatred for all others grows, by the religion of pieces.
As an aside, the adherents of the religion of pieces, broke into the Tomb of Joseph in Nablus. There, they broke up and tried to desecrate and destroy the Tomb of a great prophet and historical figure. This they did during their ‘Holy time’ of Ramadan. But this will never make it to the Security councils or even the pages of mom all over the world…. except maybe it will be reported as ‘muslims agitated in restive occupied west bank’.
gravenimage says
Quoting Islamic texts is fine–but if done so critically, even if true, this is deemed “blasphemous”.
somehistory says
The mozlum terrorists of nigeria imprison a guy for supposedly saying bad things…probably just true stuff…about their fake ‘prophet,’ whom it is not possible to “blaspheme”…the mass-murdering, raper of children, sack of maggot dung, sex-mad slave trading thief, lying son of satan…for what amounts to about half a lifetime for one his age…
And yet, they don’t do a blooming thing against those who slaughter innocent people in their homes, burn them to death, hack them to pieces, kidnap and rape children….because all of the perps are worshippers of the same piece of slime as those who run the so-called “government” and its police and courts.
It’s an evil world where these things are happening and others either celebrate it or look the other way, uncaring. But, if the slaughter of innocent people can take place daily, and others who speak truth can be imprisoned for years upon years…there…it can also happen everywhere, even here.
john smith says
Spot on Somehistory,
Thankfully your not on Facebook in Nigeria, if he got 24 years I dread what what they’d be giving you.
somehistory says
Thank you, John. Thank you.
Yes, thankfully. I’m not on there at all, but if I had an account, fb would kick me off, sure as the sun is hot. They don’t seem to like the simple truth about islam and its so-called ‘perfect’ …he was no man at all, just evil slime.
gravenimage says
Nigeria: Atheist jailed 24 years for offending Islam on Facebook
……………..
This *poor man*.
Just appalling that so few are standing up for Mubarak Bala. No civilized nation should give Nigeria money while they are persecuting apostates and Atheists.
And note that this grotesque miscarriage of justice did *not* take place in a Shari’ah court, but in allegedly secular Nigerian courts in a part of the nation that is not even majority Muslim. Just sick.
Andrew Blackadder says
Those devotees of this Fascist Religious Cult are certainly letting the world at large learn just what a Fascist Religious Cult it really is and yet I hear ”Liberals” in the Western World still tell me that islam means peace…
And they say it with a straight face… Go figure…
Michael Copeland says
“Islam means peace”?
Show them the background:
https://gatesofvienna.net/2022/04/islam-is-peace-the-anatomy-of-a-masterly-deception/
OLD GUY says
Funny how you can get 24 years in jail for offending Islam. But Islam can offend and threaten and commit violence against Christians and Jews and that is called Islamophobia if you speak about it. Double standard? The brutality of ISLAM is so apparent and yet the media and political leaders protect like a sacred cow. WHY? DIRTY MONEY.