Nigeria: Christian Woman Acquitted After Imprisonment for Alleged Blasphemy

(Worthy News) – A Christian woman who was jailed in northern Nigeria’s Bauchi state in 2022 for allegedly insulting Islam was acquitted last week, Morning Star News (MSN) reported on December 20.

The mother of five children, Rhoda Jatau was charged with religious insult for allegedly sharing a WhatsApp post that had condemned the murder of Christian university student Deborah Emmanuel Yakububy by a mob of Muslim classmates, MSN reports. If convicted she faced up to five years’ imprisonment.

After being granted bail in December 2023, Jatau was finally acquitted by a court in Bauchi state, MSN reports. In a press statement, her legal team from ADF International said: “Jatau’s lawyers raised significant legal failures in the prosecution’s case and argued that they had not established the basic elements of their case against Jatau. The grant of bail and final acquittal followed international outcry over Jatau’s imprisonment.”

“These laws punish the innocent for expressing their beliefs, silence people from sharing their faith, and perpetuate societal violence,” the ADF statement continues. “Blasphemy laws throughout Nigeria encourage brutal mob violence and inflict severe harm on minority Muslims, Christian converts and others.”

In a website report about the many forms of extreme persecution faced by Christians in Nigeria, the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization states: “Christians living in the Shariah (Islamic law) states of northern Nigeria can also face discrimination and oppression as second-class citizens. Converts from Islam often experience rejection from their own families and pressure to renounce their new faith.”

Ruled by an Islamic government, Nigeria ranks sixth on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

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