Mubarak Bala Is Free, But Concerns About Free Speech Lingers

Four years after his incarceration, popular Nigerian atheist Mubarak Bala has been released from the Kuje Custodial Center. His release comes months after an appellate court reduced his sentence for being excessive. 

In 2020, Mubarak’s controversial Facebook post outraged adherents of the Islamic religion in Northern Nigeria. He was arrested on 28 April of the same year, after a group of lawyers filed a complaint on the implications of the post. His prosecutors in Kano State charged him with insulting the Prophet Muhammad and the Islamic faith, according to court documents. The accusations include an “attempt to cause a breach of public peace.”

Bala was detained without charge, during which his location remained unknown, and he was denied contact with his lawyer or family for months, and while in prison, he was denied access to healthcare, kept in solitary confinement, and compelled to worship following Islamic ways. Although a high court in Abuja ordered his release on bail, Nigerian authorities in Kano and Kaduna ignored the ruling. 

In 2022, after a prolonged period of pre-trial detention, Bala was convicted of insulting religion with the intent to breach the peace, an offense under Section 210 of the Kano State Penal Code. Bala, who had left Islam in 2014 and adopted atheism, became an outspoken critic of the religion following a traumatic experience in 2013 when he watched a video of a Christian woman being beheaded by young men “about my age and speaking my language.” His conviction came after he unexpectedly pleaded guilty to 18 charges, much to the surprise of his legal team, who had long believed he would maintain his innocence regarding the blasphemy accusations. Bala hoped that pleading guilty might result in leniency, but to his dismay, the opposite occurred, and he was sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Leo Igwe, a close associate of Bala and the founder of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, expressed shock at the turn of events. He suggested that Bala may have been coerced into pleading guilty by members of the Islamic establishment. According to Igwe, “He was under pressure to admit he was guilty and that otherwise, he could die in prison. It was impressed on him by authorities in Kano that the only way his family could be safe was if he admitted that he was guilty, so even against legal advice he decided to agree and face the consequences.”

Speaking to BBC on Tuesday after his release, Mubarak confirmed Igwe’s claims and said the guilty plea was deliberate to let the target off the back of his loved ones.

The conviction of Bala, an atheist and the son of a religious scholar from Kano, sent shockwaves across the globe. Condemnations came in strong words from Humanists UK, UN human rights experts, and Amnesty International.

Although Bala is now out of prison, concerns for his safety still mount, according to his associates. He is currently being housed in a safe house and spending time with his son, who was only six weeks old when he was arrested in 2020. Despite being tried in a secular court, Bala could have faced a death sentence if tried under Islamic law, which operates in parts of Northern Nigeria.

Leo Igwe, emphasizes that Nigeria—one of the most religious countries in the world—remains unsafe for humanists, atheists, and free thinkers. The broader implications of Bala’s case highlight lingering challenges to freedom of speech in Nigeria.