Kano State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Musa Abdullahi Lawan has said that the state government, can not intervene in the judgment pronounced on 13 years old Omar Farouk, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail, for blasphemy, and reiterated that Farouk has constitutional right to appeal the judgment up to supreme court if he so wishes.
It would be recalled that the UNICEF, in reaction to the judgment on the 13-year-old boy, asked both the federal and state government to intervene in the judgement citing an issue that the culprit is a minor and has to be protected in accordance to child right.
According to Unicef’s country representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins who called on the Federal and Kano State governments to urgently review the case with a view to reversing the sentence.
His words: “The sentencing of this child – 13-year-old Omar Farouk – to 10 years in prison with menial labour is wrong. It also negates all core underlying principles of child rights and child justice that Nigeria – and by implication, Kano State – has signed on to.”
Meanwhile, on August 10, a Shari’a court sentenced Farouk to 10 years in prison after he pleaded before the court for his alleged derogatory remarks on Allah, during a heated debate on March 4.
The trial judge, Khadi Muhammad Ali-Kani, in his judgement said the offence contravened Islamic Law, and sentenced the convict to 10-years imprisonment under section 382 (b) of Kano State Panel Code Law 2000 and granted a 30-day grace to appeal the judgment.
Reacting to the UNICEF calls, the Attorney General said there have been issues that the convict is a minor but what on the court record was that he is 17 years old.”
The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, then disclosed that in his circumstance, he(Omar) has the right of appeal to the High court, to the court of appeal and to the Supreme Court and so if indeed he is a minor, the record will show and if he files an appeal like you know under the law, a minor cannot be held.
Barrister Lawan, however, stated that “For UNICEF to say that the state government should intervene, of course, there is no country where the government intervenes in court cases. Once there is a judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction, the next thing if there is to appeal if the aggrieved party are not contented with the judgement.”
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