Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made representations to the Government of Nigeria on (a) the matter of individuals with minority beliefs receiving the death penalty for blasphemy and (b) the case of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu.

Defending Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all is a human rights priority for the UK and a constitutional commitment of the Nigerian Government. The UK strongly opposes capital punishment in all circumstances and regularly raises blasphemy and death penalty cases with our partners. The British High Commission raises human rights issues, including FoRB, regularly with Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Officials raised Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, and other blasphemy cases, with the Executive Secretary of the NHRC in April 2023. The UK's Special Envoy for FoRB wrote to the governor of Kano State to raise concern about Sharif-Aminu's sentencing under the state's penal code in December 2022. She will follow up on this with the new governor.