Hundreds of people demonstrated in Sokoto, northwest Nigeria, to protest the arrest of two students following the murder of a Christian student accused of blasphemy. Dozens of students at Shehu Shagari School stoned Deborah Samuel on Thursday and then burned her body after reading a comment she posted on social media that was seen as insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Police later announced they had arrested two men and were looking for other suspects who appeared in video of the killing that circulated on social media. In response, local residents say young Muslims took to the streets of Sokoto to demand the release of the two detainees. Some of the protesters went to the palace of Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto and the highest Islamic figure in Nigeria, who condemned the killing and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
“Security forces deployed to protect the palace urged the protesters to leave, but they got out of control,” said another resident who lives near the palace. “Police and soldiers threw tear gas canisters and fired in the air and managed to disperse the crowd.” The angry mob then retreated to the city center where they tried to loot shops owned by Christians but according to another resident of were dispersed to law enforcement agencies.
Sokoto Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal urged protesters to return home. Following the “sad incident that took place at Shehu Shagari School on Thursday and the morning developments in the metropolis [de Sokoto]”I declare a curfew effective immediately (…) for the next 24 hours,” he said in a statement. “Everyone should please go home in the interest of peace.” the assassination of Deborah Samuel, saying “No one has the right to take justice into their own hands.”
Nigeria, a behemoth of 215 million people split almost evenly between a predominantly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south, is one of the most religious countries in the world. In Islam, blasphemy, particularly against the Prophet, is punishable by death under Sharia law, which was introduced in 12 northern Nigerian states in 2000. Islamic courts, which operate alongside the state judiciary, have handed down death sentences for adultery, blasphemy or homosexuality, but no executions have taken place.