The motion, passed under RC-B10-0101/2025, also demands the repeal of blasphemy laws at federal and state levels, citing violations of human rights and Nigeria’s international obligations.
The European Parliament has passed an urgent resolution calling on Nigerian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, a Sufi Muslim singer sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy in Kano State.
The motion, passed under RC-B10-0101/2025, also demands the repeal of blasphemy laws at federal and state levels, citing violations of human rights and Nigeria’s international obligations.
Sharif-Aminu has been in detention since March 2020.
He was convicted in August 2020 by an upper Sharia court in Kano and sentenced to death by hanging for song lyrics deemed derogatory to the Prophet Muhammad.
His conviction was overturned in January 2021, but he was ordered to face a retrial. Despite appealing his case to Nigeria’s Supreme Court in November 2022, he remains imprisoned.
The resolution also calls for the release of three other individuals facing similar charges: Abdulazeez Inyass, sentenced to death in Kano in 2016; Abduljabar Nasiru Kabara, sentenced to death in December 2022; and Isma’ila Sani Isah, arrested in Sokoto State in 2021.
On August 30, 2024, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared Sharif-Aminu’s imprisonment a violation of multiple articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The UN urged Nigerian authorities to release him immediately and provide compensation.
The EU Parliament’s resolution criticises Nigeria’s blasphemy laws, argued that they contradict the Nigerian Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and international human rights agreements.
Nigeria remains one of seven countries worldwide where blasphemy is punishable by death.
The resolution notes that “blasphemy laws are in clear breach of international human rights obligations, in particular the ICCPR to which Nigeria is party, and contrary to the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom and freedom of expression”.
The EU urged “the Nigerian authorities to uphold human rights throughout the country by ensuring that federal, state and Sharia law do not deny Nigerians protection under the national Constitution and international conventions; urges the Nigerian authorities to repeal the blasphemy laws at federal and state level”.
It noted the international efforts to abolish the death penalty and “urges Nigeria to immediately withdraw the use of capital punishment for blasphemy and take steps towards full abolition”.
It also urged “the government of Nigeria to combat the impunity surrounding blasphemy accusations by penalising the purveyors of false allegations and bringing perpetrators of violence to justice, and thereby strengthening rule of law”.
It called for the “EU and its Member States to raise individual cases, human rights concerns and blasphemy laws with the Nigerian authorities”.
It instructed its “President to forward this resolution to the Parliament and Government of Nigeria”.
Meanwhile, Kola Alapinni, an international human rights lawyer and U.S. Secretary of State awardee for International Religious Freedom, stated on his X handle on Thursday: “Mission accomplished. It sailed through Parliament overwhelmingly—almost no dissenting voice.”
“Mission accomplished! The EU Parliament in Strasbourg just passed a second urgent resolution (RC-B10-0101/2025) on Yahaya Sharif-Aminu (The Kano Singer).
‘Urging the Nigerian authorities to ensure that Federal, State and Sharia Laws do not deny Nigerians the protections afforded by the national constitution and international conventions;…. It sailed through Parliament overwhelmingly. Almost no dissenting voice,” he added.