Nigeria – Christian Stoned – Mass Protests After Arrests

After the lynching of a Christian student, hundreds of people took to the streets in Nigeria against the arrest of two Muslims. They demonstrated in Sokoto on Saturday for the release of the two students, residents of the northwestern Nigerian city said. Protesters also marched to the palace of Sokoto’s Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, who is the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s Muslims and has called for those responsible to be punished.

Dozens of Muslim students stoned student Deborah Samuel on Thursday in Sokoto out of anger at an entry in an online network that was perceived as insulting the Prophet Mohammed and burned her body. Police arrested two men and are looking for other suspects who appeared in online video of the murder.

In addition to the release of the two students, the demonstrators demanded that the search for the other suspects be stopped, as a resident of Sokoto said. Another resident reported that the protests had escalated in front of the Sultan’s palace. Police officers and soldiers used tear gas and fired warning shots. The demonstrators then moved back into the city center, where they tried to loot Christian shops.

Sokoto governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal urged protesters to go home and imposed a 24-hour curfew. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had strongly condemned the lynching of the student. Nobody has a right to vigilantism, he explained.

Nigeria has 215 million inhabitants. The north is mostly Muslim, the south is mostly Christian. In 2000, Sharia law was introduced in twelve states in northern Nigeria, including Sokoto. Death sentences for adultery, blasphemy or homosexuality have already been pronounced on this basis. So far there have been no executions. (apa/afp)

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