Mob burns Nigerian woman to death for alleged blasphemy
A woman - identified in local media as a food vendor named Amaye - has been burnt to death by a mob in northern Nigeria's Niger state after she was accused of blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad, police have said.
Local media quoted eyewitnesses as saying a man jokingly proposed marriage to the vendor, and her response was considered blasphemous by some people in the area.
"Unfortunately, it led to a mob attack, and [she] was set ablaze before a reinforcement of security teams could arrive at the scene," state police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said.
Such killings are not uncommon in northern Nigeria, where blasphemy is regarded as a criminal offence under Islamic (Sharia) law, which operates alongside secular law in 12 mainly Muslim states.
Rights group Amnesty International said that blasphemy was often "weaponised to settle personal scores" in northern Nigeria.
A minor disagreement or argument, often "deliberately orchestrated", leads to accusations of blasphemy, "and then the mob lynches the accused instantly", it said.
At least two other people have been lynched over such accusations in the last three years, with critics pointing out that not enough is being done to prevent the killings that have targeted both Muslims and Christians.
In 2022, student Deborah Samuel was beaten and burned alive in Sokoto state after being accused of making blasphemous comments.
Last year, a butcher, Usman Buda, was stoned to death in the same state under similar circumstances.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y21zxyd6mo
A woman - identified in local media as a food vendor named Amaye - has been burnt to death by a mob in northern Nigeria's Niger state after she was accused of blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad, police have said.
Local media quoted eyewitnesses as saying a man jokingly proposed marriage to the vendor, and her response was considered blasphemous by some people in the area.
"Unfortunately, it led to a mob attack, and [she] was set ablaze before a reinforcement of security teams could arrive at the scene," state police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said.
Such killings are not uncommon in northern Nigeria, where blasphemy is regarded as a criminal offence under Islamic (Sharia) law, which operates alongside secular law in 12 mainly Muslim states.
Rights group Amnesty International said that blasphemy was often "weaponised to settle personal scores" in northern Nigeria.
A minor disagreement or argument, often "deliberately orchestrated", leads to accusations of blasphemy, "and then the mob lynches the accused instantly", it said.
At least two other people have been lynched over such accusations in the last three years, with critics pointing out that not enough is being done to prevent the killings that have targeted both Muslims and Christians.
In 2022, student Deborah Samuel was beaten and burned alive in Sokoto state after being accused of making blasphemous comments.
Last year, a butcher, Usman Buda, was stoned to death in the same state under similar circumstances.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y21zxyd6mo
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
