By CHINEDU ASADU
Related Press
KANO, Nigeria (AP) — When the megaphone referred to as for each day Islamic prayers, the nonbeliever grabbed his rosary and strolled via the streets to hitch others on the mosque in Kano, northern Nigeria’s largest metropolis. A former Muslim, he now identifies as an atheist however stays closeted, fulfilling his spiritual obligations solely as a canopy.
“To outlive as an atheist, you possibly can’t act like one,” mentioned the person, who spoke to The Related Press on situation of anonymity out of worry for his security. He mentioned he narrowly escaped being killed by a mob in 2015 after some individuals found he had deserted Islam.
“If I ever declare in northern Nigeria that I’m an atheist, it should mechanically be a dying sentence,” mentioned the person, a enterprise proprietor in his thirties.
In some components of the world, religiously unaffiliated individuals are on the rise and might safely and publicly be a “none” – somebody who identifies as an atheist, agnostic, or nothing specifically. In nations like Nigeria, the state of affairs is kind of completely different.
Nigeria’s non-believers say they’ve all the time been handled as second-class residents on this deeply spiritual nation whose inhabitants of 210 million is sort of evenly divided between dominant Christians within the south and majority Muslims within the north. Though the south is comparatively protected for non-believers, some say threats and assaults have worsened within the north because the chief of the Humanist Affiliation of Nigeria, Mubarak Bala, was arrested then imprisoned for blasphemy.
The Related Press spoke with seven nonbelievers to doc their experiences. Most spoke anonymously and in secret areas, fearing for his or her security.
“Bala’s imprisonment made our motion underground,” Leo Igwe, founding father of the humanist affiliation, mentioned of the group’s chief, who in 2022 was jailed for twenty-four years. A courtroom discovered him responsible of 18 counts of blasphemy in opposition to Islam and disturbing public order via his Fb posts.
Since Bala was prosecuted by the Kano State authorities, the humanist affiliation – which has a number of hundred members – has gone underground, battling threats in opposition to its members who not maintain conferences, Leo mentioned.
Nigeria’s structure ensures freedom of faith and expression, however activists say threats to non secular freedom are frequent, notably within the north.
Practically half of African nations, together with Nigeria, have legal guidelines prohibiting blasphemy. In most secular courts in Nigeria, the harshest sentence for a blasphemy cost is 2 years in jail, whereas it carries the dying penalty in Islamic courts working within the north.
There isn’t a file of such executions in recent times. The newest dying sentence, handed down in December in opposition to an Islamic cleric, was not carried out.
Sharia legislation in pressure in Islamic courts defines blasphemous acts as these dedicated by anybody who “deliberately abuses, insults, derogates, humiliates or seeks to incite contempt for the Holy Prophet Muhammad.”
However what precisely constitutes an insult to Islam is commonly open to interpretation by accusers; some suspected offenders had been attacked and killed earlier than any trial.
No less than three individuals had been killed for alleged blasphemy in northern Nigeria final 12 months. The most recent sufferer was a Muslim stoned to dying in June after being accused of blasphemy in opposition to Islam throughout an argument at a market. Amongst those that stoned him had been kids, in accordance with video reviewed by the AP.
Nigerian authorities have didn’t take steps to forestall such assaults, and prosecutions have been uncommon, mentioned Isa Sanusi, Amnesty Worldwide’s Nigeria director.
“The alarming rise in murders and blasphemy expenses underscores the urgency with which authorities should acknowledge Nigeria’s worldwide authorized obligations to respect and shield human rights, together with freedom of faith,” it mentioned. Sanusi.
Perpetrators of such assaults ignore Islamic teachings, which discourage violence and don’t pressure anybody to stick in opposition to their will, mentioned Professor Usman Dutsinma, deputy director of the Middle for Islamic Civilization and Interfaith Dialogue at Bayero College in Kano.
“The most effective factor you are able to do is topic it to reasoning,” Dutsinma mentioned of nonbelievers. “But when somebody denounces Islam… punitive measures have to be taken in opposition to them. That is what Islam provides.
Threats in opposition to non-religious individuals in Nigeria are frequent on social media. On a Fb group referred to as Anti-Atheist, customers continuously posted messages that trolled or threatened atheists, utilizing the Hausa language of northern Nigeria.
The Kano atheist, in a dimly lit room, spoke with a mixture of braveness and worry about his experiences as a non-believer in a rustic the place about 98 % of the inhabitants is Christian or Muslim, in accordance with Pew Analysis Middle. A Fb put up by Bala in 2015, criticizing sure Islamic teachings, influenced the person’s transfer to atheism.
The person mentioned he created his personal Fb account with a faux profile, commonly posting feedback questioning faith.
“My largest worry is that the individuals I reside with will know that I’m an atheist,” he mentioned.
Even these near him are unaware that he’s an atheist, even when his spouse, a Muslim, accepts him as he’s. “Its sort may be very uncommon,” he mentioned.
Bala, previously a Muslim, was thought of an influential member of the humanist neighborhood; most nonbelievers who spoke to the AP thought of him an inspiration. Till his conviction, he posted a number of messages on Fb questioning faith, usually prompting threats.
In April 2020, he shared a message emphasizing that he and different humanists in northern Nigeria “declare there isn’t a God.” A consumer referred to as for Bala to be given the dying penalty.
Life as a non-believer in Nigeria can be troublesome for ladies, who’re already severely underrepresented in authorities and different key sectors.
“Your achievements are undermined if you’re irreligious,” mentioned Abosuahi Nimatu, who dropped out of college in Katsina State in 2020 to flee violence after her friends realized she was not Muslim.
Nimatu was so near Bala that his extended detention depressed her for a 12 months, she mentioned. She used her Fb account to marketing campaign for his launch, prompting threats that reached her cellphone and e mail inbox. Her residence deal with was shared by individuals threatening to hurt her and her household.
Even at residence, consolation is proscribed. She is commonly reminded that as an unbelieving lady, no man would marry her.
“You might be seen as a insurgent and a temperamental particular person,” she mentioned.
In 2020, Nigeria turned the primary secular democracy designated by the U.S. State Division as a “nation of explicit concern” for committing or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of spiritual freedom.” It was later faraway from that checklist of nations, sparking criticism from the U.S. Fee on Worldwide Spiritual Freedom, which believes Nigeria ought to be added again.
“Situations for spiritual freedom in Nigeria stay poor, as state and non-state actors proceed to commit widespread and egregious violations of spiritual freedom,” the fee mentioned in its 2022 annual report.
Typically such intolerance comes from the household.
A person from Yobe State mentioned he was compelled to depart his residence in 2019 when his uncle found he belonged to an atheist group on WhatsApp, resulting in dying threats. He solely returned residence after claiming to be a working towards Muslim, though he remained a closeted atheist, with Bala a staunch supporter.
“Earlier than Mubarak’s arrest, you had the sensation that somebody could possibly be liable for you even when your life was in peril. … However now you’re overwhelmed by a sense of worry and imminent hazard which you could don’t have any approach of being supported by anybody,” mentioned the person, now a college scholar.
The truth is completely different for many who are overtly untrue in southern Nigeria; they even maintain occasional public conferences. The 2 atheists who spoke to AP within the Lagos mall mentioned that they had by no means been attacked or threatened as a result of they aren’t spiritual.
Busayo Cole, who was previously a Christian and had an adoptive father who was an Anglican bishop, mentioned his household was detached to his spiritual standing. Past his household, the worst penalties he faces are occasional snide remarks.
“Persons are extra liberal about issues like that right here,” Cole mentioned.
At Kuje jail in Abuja, Bala continues to serve his jail sentence, receiving occasional guests, together with his spouse Amina Ahmed, additionally a humanist. She visited him lately with their 3-year-old son, who was solely six weeks outdated when Bala was taken into custody.
He is in temper, Ahmed mentioned of her husband. But it surely was troublesome for her, beginning when she was recovering from childbirth whereas her husband remained behind bars.
“I attempt to be robust (however) my energy fails me typically,” she mentioned.
In jail, Bala stays resolutely humanist regardless of his experiences since his arrest in April 2020, however he worries for the protection of his household and the humanists he leads in Nigeria.
It was these issues that pushed him to plead responsible, his spouse mentioned, recalling how he feared {that a} not responsible plea might provoke extra anger in northern Nigeria and put him in additional hazard. He additionally hoped a responsible plea would assist him regain entry to well being care and his younger household, one thing he had been denied for many of the two years he was held in solitary confinement earlier than to be condemned.
Like Ahmed, Nigeria’s humanist neighborhood hopes that an enchantment of Bala’s conviction would deliver him freedom.
“For now, I simply should hold pretending (to be spiritual),” mentioned the atheist from Kano. “Even when I run someplace and get out, my household will not be protected. »
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Related Press faith protection receives AP assist collaboration with The Dialog US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely liable for this content material.
