A person identified as, Mubarak Bala, who is an Atheist has been detained for 40 days in the police custody of the Kano State Police command for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad.He was apprehended in Kaduna State on April 28, 2020, after a petition by a lawyer, Salisu Umar, accusing him of posting “inciting comments” on his Facebook timeline.
He was later on transferred to the custody of the Kano State Police command where he has been detained uptil now.
The Public Relations Officer, PRO of police in Kano State, Haruna Abdullahi, refused to utter a comment on the matter when contacted him for comment on Sunday Healthforbes Media reporting.
Nevertheless , Mr. Umar, who wrote the petition against Bala, said the suspect had remained in custody because courts in Kano were closed due to the coronavirus.
He said the police could not release the suspect because of security reasons.
“All the courts in Kano are not operating because of COVID-19. He was arrested during the lockdown and at that time, all the courts were not sitting until now. Also, the police cannot grant him bail for his own protection.
“Many people are threatening to kill him. So, for his personal protection, the police feel if he is released, his life may be in danger. It is not my intention to get him killed”the lawyer said.
When asked if the suspect would be taken before a Shariah court, Umar said, “Why should he be arraigned before a Shariah court? He is not even a Muslim.”
The petition which led to Bala’s arrest reads, “We are submitting this complaint against one Mubarak Bala of Layin Masallacin Bilai, Karkasara Quarters, Kano.
“Mubarak was born and raised as a Muslim but for his own personal reason decided to leave Islam for atheism sometime in 2014 and has since then been writing stuff on his Facebook page that are provocative and annoying to the Muslims.”
By Donald Dung
