9 people have been sentenced to death by a Shariah court for blasphemy in Nigeria.
The nine who pleaded guilty were charged last month in a trial that is said to have been conducted in secret in the Nigerian city of Kano becuase of the safety of those accused.
An Upper Sharia Court, Rijiyar Lemo, in Kano, sentenced the 9 to death for blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam.
The court initially said two people were convicted but a court official later confirmed that nine people were sentenced.
The offense which was committed in early June, triggered protest in the city of Kano with many wanting the nine to be sentenced to death for defaming the Prophet of Islam Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him.
A date for the executions hasn’t been set and four other accused people were released, Kano High Court spokesman Baba Jibo Ibrahim said by phone on Friday.
One of those sentenced was, the Tijjaniya cleric who in May suggested that the sect’s leader Sheikh Ibrahim Inyaas was more powerful than the Prophet Muhammad.
