Nigeria: Student accused of blasphemy is burnt to death

Source: Associated Press

Nigeria: Student accused of blasphemy is burnt to death

By CHINEDU ASADU
May 12, 2022

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A student was beaten and burnt to death Thursday by fellow students in northwestern Nigeria after she was accused of making a blasphemous social media post, witnesses and police said.

Deborah Samuel was killed in the Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto state after being accused of “making a social media post that blasphemed ... Prophet Muhammad,” according to a police statement. Two students have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Authorities also closed the school indefinitely, in a bid to calm frayed nerves in that part of Nigeria where residents have in the past violently reacted to actions or comments deemed anti-Islamic.

Samuel’s killing caused outrage and shock among many Nigerians on social media.

The incident highlights the deep religious tension in Africa’s most populous country that’s almost evenly divided between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north. An atheist was in April sentenced to 24 years in prison over a social media post a court in the northern Kano state found to be blasphemous against Islam.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/africa-religion-social-media-nigeria-7342dd7bc54a56afdd1797bb6eab2d63