The three organisations regretted in separate comments that Bala remained in detention despite an order by a Federal High Court directing his release.
The decision of the UN group followed a petition filed by the three organisations and international law firm Dechert LLP on the arbitrary detention of Mr Bala.
In its advance edited version of opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its 99th session, between March 18 and 27, 2024, Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak Bala (Nigeria), it concluded that Bala was wrongfully imprisoned for exercising his right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief and that because of this violation no trial should have taken place.
In its legal analysis, the UN group maintained that the arrest and detention of Mr. Bala are arbitrary under categories I, II, III and V.
The detention of Mr. Bala “is arbitrary under category I insofar as he was detained contrary to Nigerian law, he was detained incommunicado, sections 114 and 210 of the Penal Code of Kano State are too broadly and vaguely worded to constitute an adequate legal basis for his detention and the court should not have accepted his guilty plea.”
The group’s report noted that the government failed to articulate the legal basis for Mr. Bala’s arrest through an arrest warrant and refused to comply with the December 1, 2020 decision of the High Court of Abuja ordering Mr. Bala’s release on bail, contrary to article 9 of the Covenant.
The group stated that the government violated Mr. Bala’s right to be informed of the grounds for his detention in writing within 24 hours of his arrest, which is enshrined in article 35 (3) of the Constitution of Nigeria.
“It recalls that, at the time of his arrest on 28 April 2020, Mr. Bala was not shown an arrest warrant and formal charges were not filed until 23 June 2021 and not formally notified to Mr. Bala until 3 August 2021,” it said.
According to the document, Mr. Bala was not arrested in “flagrante delicto and, as such, the Government lacks any justification for the failure to obtain a warrant.”
“Mr. Bala was detained incommunicado for at least three months, from the day of his arrest until 2 October 2020, during which time his family and lawyers did not know of his whereabouts and believed he may have died in custody.
“The source argues that Mr. Bala was not brought before a judge or other judicial officer until 1 February 2022, in violation of articles 35 (4) and (5) of the Constitution of Nigeria and article 9 (3) and (4) of the Covenant,” the UN group said.
The UN group contends that the “wording of sections 114 and 210 of the Penal Code of Kano State is overly broad and too vague to constitute an adequate legal basis for Mr. Bala’s detention”.
It noted that “in accordance with paragraph 22 of Human Rights Committee general comment No. 35 (2014), arrest and detention must be based on substantive grounds prescribed by law and defined with sufficient precision to avoid overly broad or arbitrary interpretation or application”.
“…The Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression has stated that terms such as “insult” and “ridicule” are extremely broad and are generally precluded from restriction under international human rights law,” the UN group said.
It further noted that undefined terms such as “insult to national honour and dignity of religious feelings” were not consistent with the international freedom of expression standards required by the Covenant.
The group stated that sections 114 and 210 of the Penal Code of Kano State are inconsistently applied. “Reportedly, there is a pattern by the Government of relying on an arbitrary interpretation of blasphemy laws to enforce Islamic law and doctrine while interfering with the rights and freedoms of religious minorities,” it said.
It maintained that Mr. Bala was prosecuted under these sections for having lawfully exercised his right to express his religious views on social media.
It added that “Mr. Bala should not have been prosecuted under these provisions, which run contrary to the principle of legality, and the court should not have accepted Mr. Bala’s guilty plea to the charges”.
Meanwhile, Emma Wadsworth-Jones, Humanists International’s Casework and Campaigns Manager has applauded the decision of the UN Working Group.
He said, “Mubarak Bala is a significant and valued member of the global humanist community. As president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, Bala has worked tirelessly to promote human rights education, freedom of religion or belief for all, peace, and stability.
“The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s opinion confirms that his imprisonment was a direct result of his peaceful activism. We call on the government of Nigeria to abide by the decision and immediately release Bala.”
Program Director at Freedom Now, Karl Horberg, regretted that despite the order of the Federal High Court which directed the release of Bala, he has remained in detention for over three years.
“It has been more than three and a half years since Nigeria’s Federal High Court ordered Bala’s release, yet he remains wrongfully imprisoned. Nigeria’s international partners should compel the government to abide by its international commitments and release Bala,” Horberg said.
Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at Freedom House, Annie Boyajian, said: “The UN Working Group’s decision vindicates the ongoing campaign to release Bala and finally reunite him with his family. We join our partners today in urging Nigeria to abide by the decision without delay.”
In April 2020, Bala was arrested by plainclothes officers in Kaduna over Facebook comments that some alleged had insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
The case against Bala was riddled with procedural irregularities from the very beginning. He was held without charge for more than a year and denied access to medical care and his legal team, during a time when Nigeria’s constitutional promise of freedom of religion or belief was severely undermined.
The Federal High Court in Abuja ruled Bala’s arrest unconstitutional in December 2020 and ordered authorities to release him on bail, but that order was ignored.
When Bala’s trial finally concluded in April 2022, he received a severe and disproportionate 24-year prison sentence from the Kano State High Court, which ignored his pleas for leniency. In May 2024, an appeal court reduced Bala’s sentence to five years.