Blasphemy: SANs Can’t Stand Before Sharia Court, Says Defence
An Upper Shari’a Court sitting in Kano has fixed September 2 for the ruling in the application for re-arraignment of a cleric, Abduljabbar Nasiru-Kabara, for alleged blasphemy.
After listening to arguments by the counsel on whether a new charge should be read to Mr Nasiru-Kabara or not, the presiding judge, Ibrahim Sarki-Yola, fixed September 2 for the ruling.
Mr Sarki-Yola ordered that the defendant be remanded in a correctional centre pending a ruling.
Mr Nasiru-Kabara was first arraigned before the court on July 16.
He was charged with blasphemy, incitement, and sundry offence according to the First Information Report (FIR) from the police by the Office of the Attorney General which prepared the charge against the cleric.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
At the resumed sitting, the prosecution counsel, Suraj Sa’eda, SAN, urged the court to terminate the first FIR and asked that a new charge by the state government dated August 13 be read.
Mr Sa’eda said that a charge must be read and a plea taken before any other objection according to section 390(2) of Kano State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2019.
Counsel to the defendant, Saleh Muhammad-Bakaro, told the court that the four SANs for the prosecution representing the Attorney-General of Kano State have no jurisdiction to appear before the court.
“Senior Advocates of Nigeria have no jurisdiction to appear before an Upper Shari’a court.
“Section 3, 4,5, and 6(3) privileges and functions rules legal rights of SAN,” he said.
Mr Muhammad-Bakaro also prayed the court not to allow a fresh charge to be read to the defendant.
Under Islamic law, he said, a charge cannot be changed after a suspect has been arraigned according to sections 2, 108 and 126(a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2019.
