A mob burned a woman to death in central Nigeria over alleged blasphemy against Islam. Photo / Getty Images
A mob burned a woman to death in central Nigeria over alleged blasphemy against Islam. Photo / Getty Images
A mob burned a woman to death in central Nigeria over the weekend after accusing her of blasphemy against Islam, police said today.
The woman “was set ablaze” on Saturday local time in a “mob attack” after she made comments about the Prophet Muhammad, police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun inNiger state said in a statement.
He said the woman was a food vendor named Amaye from northwest Nigerian Katsina state.
Abiodun added that the police condemned any act of “jungle justice” and urged members of the public to remain calm during the search for the attackers.
Sharia law operates alongside common law in 12 predominantly Muslim states in Nigeria – including Niger – and blasphemy is punishable by death.
In many cases, the accused are killed by mobs without going through the legal process, though the attack on the weekend is not thought to have involved a legal process.
Such attacks are rare although a butcher in the northern city of Sokoto was stoned to death in June 2023 and a Christian university student was killed by Muslim students a year earlier, both after blasphemy allegations.
