Thread by @astroehlein

Student Deborah Samuel was gruesomely murdered in #Nigeria’s northwest Sokoto state last week after she was accused of blasphemy (that is, exercising her right to free speech).

Efforts by authorities to identify & arrest those involved in her murder have been met with protests.

According to media reports, unidentified assailants hunted down and killed Samuel after she sent a WhatsApp voice note to her classmates that some of them deemed to be insulting to the Prophet Muhammed.

In videos that have gone viral, men with sticks can be seen beating the lifeless, bloodied body of a woman, reported to be Samuel.

The video also showed young men celebrating, with one man holding up a match box and saying that he used it to set her on fire and kill her.

While the constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, thought & conscience, #Nigeria’s criminal law makes it an offense to insult religion.

Sharia, or Islamic law, applicable in the country’s 12 northern states, including Sokoto, criminalizes blasphemy.

The authorities have held people incommunicado and Sharia courts have sentenced those convicted of blasphemy to death.

Blasphemy accusations often trigger mob violence before authorities even get involved. Nigeria’s history is rife with mob killings and deadly riots over alleged blasphemy against Islam.

Years of failing to ensure accountability for intercommunal violence between Muslim and Christian communities has only served to fuel more violence.

hrw.org/report/2013/12…

#Nigeria's legislators should urgently introduce laws to repeal the country’s blasphemy legislation, which is inconsistent with international human rights law to which Nigeria is party.

The authorities should fully investigate and appropriately prosecute all those responsible for Samuel’s murder.

They must send a clear message that mob killings have no place in #Nigeria whatsoever.

Read more: hrw.org/news/2022/05/1…