NewStats: 3,259,216 , 8,169,479 topics. Date: Saturday, 24 May 2025 at 10:18 AM 673l5z

Did he pray in prison ? they should have given him the Bible.

Nigerian atheist freed from prison but fears for his life


A prominent Nigerian atheist, who has just been freed after serving more than four years in prison for blasphemy, is now living in a safe house as his legal team fear his life may be in danger.

Mubarak Bala, 40, was convicted in a court in the northern city of Kano after, in a surprise move, he pleaded guilty to 18 charges relating to a controversial Facebook post shared in 2020.

"The concern about my safety is always there," he told the BBC in an exclusive interview as he tucked into his first meal as a free man.

Nigeria is a deeply religious society and those who may be seen as having insulted a religion - whether Islam or Christianity – face being shunned and discriminated against.

Blasphemy is an offence under Islamic law – Sharia - which operates alongside secular law in 12 states in the north. It is also an offence under Nigeria's criminal law.

Bala, who renounced Islam in 2014, said there were times during his incarceration that he felt he "may not get out alive". He feared he could have been targeted by guards or fellow inmates in the first prison he was in, in Kano, which is a mainly Muslim city.

"Freedom is here, but also there is an underlying threat I now have to face," he said. "All those years, those threats, maybe they're out there."

He could have been inside for much longer if it was not for an appeals court judge who reduced the initial 24-year sentence last year, describing it as "excessive".

Walking out of the prison in the capital, Abuja, Bala looked tired, but cheerful dressed in a white T-shirt, khaki shorts and flip-flops. He emerged with his beaming lawyer by his side.

"Everything is new to me. Everything is new," he said as he took in his new-found liberty.
Bala, an outspoken religious critic, was arrested after a group of lawyers filed a complaint with the police about the social media post.
He then spent two years in prison awaiting trial before being convicted in 2022.

At the time Bala's guilty plea baffled many, even his legal team, but he stands by his decision, saying that it relieved the pressure on those who stood by him, including his lawyers, friends and family.

"I believe what I did saved not only my life, but people in Kano," he said.
"Especially those that were attached to my case, because they are also a target."

His conviction was widely condemned by international rights groups and sparked a debate about freedom of speech in Nigeria.
His detention also sent shockwaves across Nigeria's small atheist and humanist communities, and his release has come as a relief to many, but there are still concerns.

"It's thanks and no thanks," said Leo Igwe, the founder of the Humanist Association of Nigeria.
"Thanks, that he's out, thanks that he's a free man. But no thanks, because there is a dent on him as if he committed a crime. For us at the Humanist Association, he committed no crime."

As for Bala, he is keen to catch up on lost time – including getting to know his young son who was just six weeks old when he was imprisoned. But he said he had no regrets.

"My activism, my posting on social media, I always knew the worst would happen, When I made the decision to come out, I knew I could be killed. I knew the dangers, and I still decided to do it."

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62zpk4nnxdo

Mystery:
How did he escape being killed in prison??
Penalty for leaving Islam for any reason is death

For his own safety, it would be best for him to leave the North and South West. He should consider starting anew in either the South East or South South, or better still travel out of the country but I doubt the later due to his financial incapability .

24 years sentence for what exactly? Renouncing your religion? Who even fears his religion than his God? 🥲 That should be a big crime on its own 😂

Everyone is free to hold whatever believe they think is better for them.

Woke Soyinka is an atheist who only shouts Jesus when he's in sudden danger.

Asylum Asapu in Canada. Or else those Islambad go still send people to kill him in Northern Nigeria

If only religion was a sign of development.

He will get asylum from US, Canada or Australia for religious persecution..

If the northern part of Nigeria can channel the energy they use in fighting for Mohammed to something meaningful, maybe Nigeria would have been better than this.

He should relocate to the south

Insult Jesus and walk free, insult Mohammed and get stoned to death.


Light and darkness, the difference is clear.

MadamVanessa:



For his own safety, it would be best for him to leave the North and South West. He should consider starting anew in either the South East or South South, or better still travel out of the country but I doubt the later due to his financial incapability .

South east that IPOB may kill him at anytime just because he is a northerner

MadamVanessa:



For his own safety, it would be best for him to leave the North and South West. He should consider starting anew in either the South East or South South, or better still travel out of the country but I doubt the later due to his financial incapability .

...latter...

panafrican:
Did he pray in prison ? they should have given him the Bible.



Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62zpk4nnxdo

From the question you asked

There's a chance you posted this without reading through it

Which one be bible for Sharia Imprisonment?

Hmmmmmmm 🤔 💭

Emmanuel900:


South east that IPOB may kill him at anytime just because he is a northerner

South East...
Northerner...

Nigeria is a religious society with high rate of cultists, corrupt politicians, tribalists, murderous money ritualists, drug dealers, child traffickers, adulterous "men of God", young girls prostituting for a plate of noodles.

I am sure there is a possible correlation between how religious a nation is and despicable social vices.

MadamVanessa:



For his own safety, it would be best for him to leave the North and South West. He should consider starting anew in either the South East or South South, or better still travel out of the country but I doubt the later due to his financial incapability .

SE? Ipob, ugm, esn, kidnappers, ritualists and other godless criminals are waiting for him

Pls someone need an urgent advise,,a friend of mine married a lady and during childbirth,,d lady was later confirmed to be hiv positive,,d husband is negative..The problem here now is d woman's family are abroad so they send her all sorts of drugs to keep her in shape..So doesn't even look like someone with hiv that u may even want to die for her beauty...The baby they had together is negative too n now in secondary sch..All of a sudden,,d woman relocated to abuja and started seeing many toasters,,she now felt her husband is not man enough and decided to break up with him...pls d guy needs an urgent advise..pls house

How is islam a religion of peace?

He should leave this country, he has a good case for asylum.

This country haff spoil, but we have BATists who'd rather stay in Nigeria and build than Obi ers who want to japa

Foolish country 😭
Foolish Region

They'll rather Die for religious purposes than seek ability from the government

mu2sa2:
SE? Ipob, ugm, esn, kidnappers, ritualists and other godless criminals are waiting for him

Quite dere don't justify urself all those u mention happen everywhere.

mu2sa2:
SE? Ipob, ugm, esn, kidnappers, ritualists and other godless criminals are waiting for him

Waiting for him? Lol, that's better than everyone looking to stone him in Kano, at least he can walk free in the streets after insulting a religion

a godless heathen, he get as ur case be now bt wetin we go talk ?

u av every right to choose ur faith and right to respect others' faith. But sha, serve ur godlessness make i serve my God.


My own be say, Muslims that are quick to insult Christians faith are always quick to react if reverse is the case...

Nobody is their 2nd citizen in dix country. We rly need to do something abt these people because i can sense d next civil war in d future may likely be a battle BTW the Muslims and the others.

They spent their lives fighting for mohammed than developments. North will forever be backward

MadamVanessa:



For his own safety, it would be best for him to leave the North and South West. He should consider starting anew in either the South East or South South, or better still travel out of the country but I doubt the later due to his financial incapability .

Keep your advice to yourself, where I'm from, we don't kill for religious reasons. I'm not atheist, I believe in God only but I hate anything religion with my last breathe,so I don't practice one and I don't get punished for that because I lived in the most peaceful part of the country(SW). Imagine a household where the hubby is a traditionalist, wife a Christian, children Muslims or Christian. That is the type of home I was born into because we Yorubas believes in "live and let's live"
You advising Bala to relocate to the SE is like jumping from fry pan to fire, because life in that place too can be unpredictable.

All these fake imported religions have destroyed the normal mental processes of a lot of our people.

If you are following any of the two religion, you should know for fact that:

There is no heaven, there is no hell, there is no God (or god), there is no Allah, there are no angels, there are no demons, there are no spirits, there is no life after death, juju don't work, there is no eternal judgment, there is no karma, there was no historical Jesus. All those are figment of human imaginations and tools use by a very few some to control the very many others. The earlier you understand and accept these facts as facts, the happier and merrier your life and existence will be.

The religion you're currently claiming is the religion of your parents, if you were born into a different family of another religion (say Hinduism), that is the exact religion you will practice.

You were born without a religion in you, your factory reset has no religion in it. If you were to be a phone and they do factory reset on you today being a phone, there will not be anything found related to religion in your settings, files and file systems anymore; you learn religion only after your birth growing up.


Islam is idolatry and paganism, Christianity aswell is idolatry - All the world religion is idolatry, including all the Abrahamic religion. Holy communion is idolatory, bowing for a stone call Kaaba of the Bedouin tribes is also idolatory, killing of rams is idolatory, kissing or licking of a stone at mecca is idolatory, throwing of stone at pilgrimage is idolatory too.

Infact, Illah is what the Arabic call God and not Allah (the moon god). Allah was one of the diety been worshiped before the invention of Islam. That is why muslims will say something like "la ilah ila huwa" meaning Allah is one Illah (God). Have you ask yourself why Prophet Mohammed's father who was an idol worshiper and who lived before the invention of islam has Allah in is name Abdullai== Abdu Allah? It is because Allah has been an idol worshiped by paganists before the Prophet received his revelations.

All Abrahamic religion are idolatory, they only package them well and condemn your heritage as evil, whereas, Nigeria was better in of morality, honesty and integrity before they brought the foreign religions.

In peace loving, emotional intelligence, love for neighbor, respect for sanctity of life, we are even better than those who brought those religion with primitive leaders whose morality and characters are highly questionable.

Where is freedom of association?? I thought the constitution is above every other law