The appeals division of the Kano State High Court on Thursday overturned Omar Farouq’s verdict for lacking legal representation at his first trial, his lawyer Kola Alapinni told CNN.
He will be released on Monday after being in prison for more than five months without access to family or lawyers.
The sharia court ruling that was overturned Thursday described him as a 17-year-old minor, but Alapinni told CNN his client is 13.
Alapinni said Farouq’s mother fled to a nearby town after crowds came to their home after his arrest.
“We must now arrange safe passage for him. His life is in danger in Kano – it will never be the same again,” said Alapinni.
He had not been given legal representation before or during his trial – in violation of the constitutional right of Nigerian citizens to legal representation, his lawyers said.
He was convicted on August 10 of making “a blasphemous statement against the Prophet Muhammad in a WhatsApp group,” the verdict said.
Blasphemy is a crime punishable by death under the Kano Sharia Code.
The recording was widely shared and, according to several reports, caused massive outrage in the highly conservative, predominantly Muslim state.
However, Sharif-Aminu’s case was remanded to Sharia court for retrial due to procedural irregularities, Alapinni said.
The attorney told CNN that his team will appeal the full decision.
Both cases have similar facts and the same judge. Why is one defendant free and the other not? ‘ he said.
Amnesty International Country Director Osai Ojigho said she welcomed Farouq’s release and that “he should not have been convicted in the first [place]. “
“We reiterate our position that Aminu Yahaya Shariff should be heard fairly,” she added.
Kano’s governor of the state, Abdullahi Ganduje, told the clergy in Kano in August that he would sign Sharif-Aminu’s death warrant once the singer exhausted the appeal process, local media said.
The state of Kano, like most predominantly Islamic states in Nigeria, applies Sharia in addition to secular law.
In the eyes of many Nigerians, passing Sharia law is a violation of the country’s constitution, as they believe that Article 10 guarantees freedom of religion.
“This issue of blasphemy is incompatible with the Nigerian constitution,” Leo Igwe, chairman of the board of trustees of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, told CNN in September.
The court upheld the legality of the Sharia penal system in both cases, a decision Alapinni said he will also appeal to federal court.
“It goes to the root of religious freedom in Nigeria,” he added.