UNICEF Expresses Concern Over Jailing of 13-Year-old Child in Kano for Blasphemy
The United Nations Children’s agency, Unicef has condemned the sentencing of 13-year-old Omar Farouq to 10 years in prison with menial labour for blasphemy by the Kano State Sharia Court at Feli Hockey, Kano.
UNICEF representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins condemned the sentence by the Sharia Court for uncomplimentary comments describing it as an abuse of child right.
“It also negates all core underlying principles of child rights and child justice that Nigeria – and by implication, Kano State – has signed on to,” Hawkins said.
According to him, the sentence was in contravention of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Nigeria approved in 1991. It is also a violation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child – which Nigeria ratified in...
