Auschwitz Museum boss vows to continue fight for release of 13-year-old Nigerian boy despite snub from Nigerian president
The director of the Auschwitz Museum has said he will continue to fight for the release of a 13-year-old Nigerian boy jailed for blasphemy, despite his previous pleas being ignored.
In a letter to Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari dated Nov. 30th, the director of the museum Piotr Cywiński hit out at the “preposterous sentence” saying: “While waiting for your response, I wish to assure you that I will continue to act toward’s the boy’s release.”
In August, teenager Omar Farouq was jailed by a court in the state of Kano, after being accused of blasphemy during a fight with a classmate.
Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari has failed to reply to the Auschwitz Museum director’s letters.
Cywiński had earlier said that in exchange for clemency, he would be willing to serve a month of the boy’s 10 year sentence, and would find another 119 volunteers willing to serve the rest of the time.
In August, teenager Omar Farouq was jailed by a court in the state of Kano, after being accused of blasphemy during a fight with a classmate.
In his letter to Nigeria’s president, the director of the museum Piotr Cywiński hit out at the “preposterous sentence”.
Kano in northern Nigeria where the boy is from practices traditional Islamic law to the letter meaning that blasphemy is punishable by imprisonment or even death.
Now Cywiński has reiterated his proposal saying: “To date, 300 people - not 119 - have volunteered to serve a month in prison.”
Actress and film director Rahama Saudau publicly apologised for showing her bare back in a photo but now faces the death penalty.
He added that they include professors, students, journalists, clergy, entrepreneurs, human rights experts “as well as pensioners and unemployed persons.”
The 48 year old went on: “I must also admit that the fate of an actress Rahama Saudau, who is under threat of the death penalty for a similar reason, is extremely shocking to me.”
As many as 300 people have volunteered to serve the 10-year-old’s prison sentence.
He continued that as “the number of people willing to participate is far greater than my initial proposal of 120” the actress “could also benefit from such a substitute situation.”
The Nigerian president is yet to reply.
