US State Department Calls for Release of Sufi Singer Jailed Since 2020

The United States government has urged Nigerian authorities to release Sufi musician Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, who has been on death row since 2020 over blasphemy charges, and to cease the enforcement of blasphemy laws across the country.

The call was made by the US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Riley M. Barnes, in written testimony before the Africa Subcommittee of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, November 12, 2026, ValidViewNetwork reports.

THE US POSITION

Barnes was unequivocal. “We are actively pressing the Government of Nigeria and calling for the release of Sufi singer Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, who sits on death row over blasphemy charges,” he said . “We continue to urge the government to cease enforcement of blasphemy laws, but our chief goal remains to end the attacks and violence. The US has made it clear that the measure of success will be fewer attacks and less violence”.

Barnes described the continued prosecution of individuals over alleged blasphemy as “another troubling situation in Nigeria,” noting that individuals are prosecuted over perceived insults to Islam, including peaceful speech .

He said Sharia penal codes were enforced in 12 Nigerian states and urged the government to repeal blasphemy laws or, at the minimum, stop enforcing them.

HE SIX-YEAR ORDEAL

Sharif-Aminu’s ordeal began in March 2020. He was arrested after sharing a song he had composed in a WhatsApp group. The lyrics were considered blasphemous by some members of the Muslim community, and his family home was subsequently burned by a mob.

In August 2020, a Sharia High Court in Hausawa Filin Hockey, Kano, sentenced him to death by hanging.

The judge, Khadi Aliyu Muhammad, handed down the sentence after being satisfied with the evidence that the youth had committed the crime.

The trial was rushed and conducted without legal representation for the defendant .In January 2021, the Kano State High Court overturned the ruling of the Shariah Court, citing procedural irregularities, including the absence of legal representation during the trial, and ordered a retrial.

The retrial order was upheld by the Court of Appeal in August 2022.

Sharif-Aminu subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, which allowed his appeal against the retrial order to proceed in September 2025. But his case remains unresolved.

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THE ANALYTICAL LENS

Yahaya Sharif-Aminu has been on death row for six years. He was convicted in a trial that his own state’s High Court later acknowledged was procedurally flawed. He was sentenced to die for a song.

And the Supreme Court, which could have resolved his case years ago, has allowed it to linger. The United States has now intervened. Its call for release is significant, not because Nigeria is obligated to obey it, but because it shines an international spotlight on a case that has been allowed to fester.

Blasphemy laws are a matter of intense debate in Nigeria. They are supported by many Muslims who see them as a necessary protection for their faith.

They are opposed by human rights advocates who argue that they violate freedom of speech and are disproportionately used against the poor and vulnerable.

Sharif-Aminu is a Sufi musician. He is not a terrorist. He is not a threat to public order. He is a man who wrote a song that offended some people. And for that, he has spent six years in prison, facing the possibility of execution.

The US has called for his release. Nigeria has not responded. And Sharif-Aminu waits, in a cell, for a justice system that has not yet decided whether he should live or die. ValidViewNetwork reports