Arrested for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad, Mubarak Bala, has remained in Police custody since the day of his arrest, April 28, 2020, till this moment, which makes it 40 days already.
According to the PUNCH, Bala, Was born into Islam, but later turned atheist in 2014. He was arrested for insulting Prophet Muhammad with inciting comments on his Facebook wall, and has since then, remained in custody of the Kano State Police command without trial.
When asked why Bala is being detained, Mr. Umar, who wrote the petition against Bala cited the closure of courts in Kano currently due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the reason why he has remained in detention till now.
He further stated that the police decided to keep him in detention in order to protect him from people that might want to harm him.
When quizzed on the possibility of Bala being arraigned before a Shariah court, Umar denounced that with the claims that Bala is not a Muslim currently, there won’t be a need for that.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Kano State, Haruna Abdullahi, failed to comment on the development.
However, Rights group, Humanists International, which champions equality and secularity, has condemned the prolonged detention of Bala.
The group explained that efforts made by Bala’s legal team to locate him since his transfer from Gbabasawa police station, Kaduna state to Kano State Police Command have turned out futile.
The group added that his prolonged detention, which have not yielded any trial, violates his rights to liberty, fair trial, freedom of thought and expression, and freedom of movement as stated in the Nigerian constitution as well as international human rights law.
News Hub Mag! recalls that just before his arrest, Bala posted, “Fact is, you have no life after this one. You have been dead before, long before you were born, billions of years on death” on his Facebook wall.
