He was accused of blaspheming Prophet Mohammed in a song he circulated via WhatsApp in March 2020.
Consequently, judge Aliyu Kani of the Upper Shari’a Court, convicted Yahaya-Sharif based on Section 382 (b) of the Kano penal code of 2000.
However, a Kano State High Court and the Court of Appeal in the state quashed Sharif-Aminu’s conviction.
The two courts premised their verdicts because the singer’s trial at the Upper Shari’a Court was fraught with fundamental irregularities.
The courts ordered a retrial in the case, a decision Sharif-Aminu has further appealed against at the Supreme Court, calling for an outright dismissal of the charges.
But despite the appellate court’s order on August 17, 2022, Sharif-Aminu is still being incarcerated.
In a resolution on April 20, according to Premium Times, the European Parliament said Nigeria’s blasphemy laws “are in violation of its international human rights commitments, the African Charter, and the Nigerian Constitution.”
Urging the Nigerian government to uphold human rights by ensuring that Sharia law and other similar legislations “do not deny Nigerians protection,” the parliament asked the government “to repeal the blasphemy laws at federal and state level.”
Recalling international efforts to end the death penalty, it admonished the Nigerian state to “immediately withdraw the use of capital punishment for blasphemy and take steps towards full abolition.”
With Shari’a law being practised in 12 northern states in Nigeria, the region is blighted by a legion of extrajudicial killings in the form of mob action against persons accused of blasphemy.
