A supporter in Accra holding a #FreeMubarakBala sign, May 2020. The sign is not Bala's own.
A supporter in Accra holding a #FreeMubarakBala sign, May 2020. The sign is not Bala's own.
Owula kpakpo, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Mubarak Bala

b. 1984
Atheist

Mubarak Bala was raised in Kano's strict Islamic schools, and answered a child's doubts with more devotion. He lost his faith slowly and privately between 2003 and 2009, and was afraid of the word "atheist" until about 2012. Boko Haram's violence drove him to say it openly in 2013. The cost was eighteen days in a psychiatric ward in 2014 and, after Facebook posts in 2020, a twenty-four-year sentence for insulting religion that a UN body called detention for his atheism. He came out of prison in 2025 reaffirming his unbelief.

The belief timeline

1984Faithchildhood to about 2003Childhood crackfrom about age 7 (2015) / "always" (2016)Doubt2003–2009 (self-report; contested)Declaration2012–2014Cost and reaffirmation2015–2026
  1. Faith (childhood to about 2003) — Raised in Kano's Muslim culture in Saudi-funded Muslim-only schools; taught that "Islam is perfect"; as a teenager a zealous believer (the 2001 bin Laden poster; the Freemasons tape) who "thought Islam was the solution" [50][52]
  2. Childhood crack (from about age 7 (2015) / "always" (2016)) — Asks his father how Allah came to be; reads the whole Qur'an at school; is warned off his questions; "intensified study of the religion to increase my faith and prove my doubts wrong" [51]
  3. Doubt (2003–2009 (self-report; contested)) — Meets Christians in 2003 and "became liberal"; "very secular" at Ahmadu Bello University; the 2007 Hajj, where he tries to re-commit and (in a 2026 telling) concludes it "can't be right"; by 2009 "agnostic" [53][54][55][56]
  4. Declaration (2012–2014) — By 2012 he "felt more like an atheist"; a 2013 beheading video makes him "come out"; he tells his mother; first doctor November 2013; committed June 2014; the story goes public 25 June 2014 [57][21][58][59][60][11]
  5. Cost and reaffirmation (2015–2026) — After the ward he decides to speak daily online; arrest, trial, guilty plea, prison; "forcefully converted" in captivity yet "I stand by my views"; 2025–26 he plans a political future [63][69][70][43]
Notes to the timeline (17)
  1. [50] His primary school was a Muslim-only school funded by Saudi Arabia under the Daurah-Islamic Foundation, his secondary school a Muslim-only private school; in 2015 he names them (an Islamic Foundation school, "Aliyu Bin Abi Talib", and "Hassan I. Gwarzo", a science secondary school) and says he was trained "in the Wahhabi Islamic thought, with a jihad ideology"; he was taught "Islam is perfect" and that science is true only when it agrees with doctrine, yet read more science than the curriculum required from books at home — Mubarak Bala, "My Journey from Islamist to Free Thinker", Feminist Dissent 2016 (1), pp. 118–130 (Warwick; PDF pages are numbered 118–130 although the journal's "To cite" line says 119–130), ] pp. 119–120; "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his atheism in Nigeria", interview by Atane Ofiaja, This is Africa, 18 December 2015.
  2. [52] As a boy and teenager he was a zealous believer: lessons on jihad during the First Gulf War (he says he was 9; see Disputed points), at 16 in 2001 a bin Laden poster pasted in the front yard where friends heard BBC Hausa news, and in his last school year a transcribed tape on Freemasons sent to many people including officials, because "I... thought Islam was the solution"; he calls himself a "pseudo-Islamist" — Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 118, 120–121.
  3. [51] His childhood crack, by his own account: at seven he "consistently" asked his father when and how Allah had made himself, and his father answered "as he could, to keep me within line" (2015); in 2016, "doubts about my faith had always remained"; at school he read all of the Qur'an to see whether it matched what he knew to be true, asked "too many questions", was told God was "too mysterious" for his mind or that they "incur Allah's wrath", and "intensified study of the religion to increase my faith and prove my doubts wrong" — "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his…"; Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 121–122.
  4. [53] In 2003, on remedial studies outside Kano, he met Christians and others for the first time as "normal people", befriended many, took part in interfaith debates, studied a Bible for them, and "became liberal"; he admired the debate tapes of Ahmed Deedat and lobbied the state government to name a road for him — Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] p. 122.
  5. [54] To avoid his father's religious demands he left a Kano university after a year for Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he "became very secular" yet still thought Islam true and Muslims "just not being Muslim enough"; to keep his father's financial support he had joined the Muslim Students' Society, broke from it during violent uprisings, and founded a secular group (first "I4E", Islam for Earth, then Mannah World) that failed to be licensed under the first name; he dates the quieting about 2007 — Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 122–124.
  6. [55] In 2007 on Hajj he prayed fervently for guidance, saw that he was diverging from the path through doubts, and resolved to re-study and re-commit, partly from political ambition ("political suicide to be an atheist") and fear of the hereafter, blaming the devil for his weakening faith; in 2026 he told an interviewer that he reached his conclusion "during my hajj and immediately after" and felt anger at "the lies" — Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] p. 124; "Mubarak Bala Speaks: Freedom of Belief, Human Rights, and the Cost of Conscience in Nigeria", interview by Temitope Ajoke Adebayo, Ajoke Brown Media, 7 February 2026. Accounts differ; see the disputed points.
  7. [56] By his 2016 account continuing study and questions to scholars convinced him "the problem is really Islam" and "by 2009, I became agnostic", a freethinker who kept his view private while openly secular, and whose writing changed to covertly pass on secularism; he says he learned the words only in "the past year"; in 2015 he said "by university I was already agnostic and humanist. By 2009, I was more vocal, and an activist, for Almajiri freedom" — Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 124–125; "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his…".
  8. [57] In 2012, as Boko Haram's attacks reached a scale he compares to September 11, he "felt more like an atheist" but was afraid of the term; Twitter's memes made him realise "I had been an atheist all along"; he says he understood evolution; in 2015 "from 2012, my criticism turned towards Boko Haram and Islam. The naked violence confirmed me an atheist"; he describes his motive as urgency, so that doubts might set in among his people before the country became "another Somalia or Afghanistan" — Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 126–127; "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his…".
  9. [21] By his own account a 2013 video of a beheading of a female Christian "by boys around my age, speaking my language" is what "finally made me come out as atheist"; (in 2026 he places the beheading in Borno and by Boko Haram) — Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 127–128; John Campbell, "Nigerian Atheist Arrested and Disappeared", Council on Foreign Relations, 2 September 2020; Ruth Maclean, "Outspoken Atheist, Arrested in Nigeria for Blasphemy, Hasn't Been Seen Since", New York Times, 25 August 2020. Read through an unauthorised reprint (https://lawcarenigeria.com/outspoken-atheist-arrested-in-nigeria-for-blasphemy-hasnt-been-seen-since/), which names the Times as source; to be checked on the original before the script. Quotes Bala's 2016 article; "Mubarak Bala Speaks: Freedom of Belief,…". Not verified.
  10. [58] He says that with every attack he became more vocal and that the beheading video of 2013 made him decide to speak, telling people "bluntly, including my mother" (see claim 21) — Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 127–128.
  11. [59] His mother, frightened, told his father; the father, instead of debating, wanted him to see a psychiatrist; he agreed on condition that the doctor be a non-Muslim, which was refused; in November 2013 he saw a doctor he calls secular, who said it was not a psychiatric problem and the family could only preach or pray; the father then sought another doctor — Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] p. 128.
  12. [60] By June 2014 (his account) the family had arranged a second doctor in advance; at the first visit, with the whole family, the doctor said he needed a god ("even in Japan they have a god") and that atheists are mentally disturbed; the doctor, his father and brother told a story of Al-Ghazali, a scholar who questioned Allah, went mad, repented and recovered; the doctor prescribed a bed; days later he was seized, beaten, sedated and told he would be killed if he did not comply; in 2025 he adds that his two uncles held him down while his father injected a drug — Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] p. 128; Mubarak Bala, "Leaving Islam", The African Humanist Journal, 1 May 2025 (part one of a serial; "to be continued"; later parts not found); An email of Bala's from the ward, quoted in Vice (Jordan Larson, 25 June 2014) and the Independent (25 June 2014), citing the IHEU, ] (the "Japan" and Adam and Eve lines in his 2014 email).
  13. [11] The ward was at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital; the hospital said it was treating him for "a challenging psychological condition" and would not keep him longer than necessary; reported 25 June 2014 — BBC News, "Nigerian man 'detained in mental hospital for atheism'", 25 June 2014.
  14. [63] After release he saw it as "my duty to normalise atheism"; he decided to speak about atheism, humanism and secularism on social media every day, so that if he were abducted again "my absence would be quickly noticed"; he received threats and kept posting — Bala, "Leaving Islam".
  15. [69] On belief after prison: in January 2025 he said "I am an atheist... for close to 20 years now" (i.e. since about 2005), that in captivity "I was forcefully converted", and that if friends heard he had converted to Islam on his deathbed they should know it was untrue; in 2026 he says the police told him he must convert back, stay offline and stay in Kano, and he refused for months; the court summary records that at sentencing he pledged caution — "Jailed for Blasphemy, Freed After 4 Years — Mubarak Bala on Punishment for His Beliefs", interview by Abimbola Abatta, Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), 20 January 2025; "Mubarak Bala Speaks: Freedom of Belief,…"; Columbia Global Freedom of Expression, "State v. Muhhammad Mubarak Bala" (case no. K/89C/2021, decision 5 April 2022), case summary quoting the judgment by page.
  16. [70] As of the latest dated source (7 February 2026) he is in exile in Europe; he says he hopes to return when it is safe and has "an ambition to run for the presidency"; USCIRF's database lists his current location as Germany — "Mubarak Bala Speaks: Freedom of Belief,…"; USCIRF, Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims Database entry "Mubarak Bala" (Current Location: Germany; Date of Release: 7 January 2025).
  17. [43] On 29 July 2025 he wrote that he lives in Germany, hopes to return to Nigeria and perhaps enter elective politics in "five to ten years", and "will never stop criticising Islam" — Mubarak Bala, "Mubarak Bala on humanism, imprisonment and hope", Humanist Society Scotland, 29 July 2025.

Detained for His Atheism

In June 2024 the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention published its opinion on the case of a Nigerian chemical engineer who had been in prison for four years for posts on Facebook. Its conclusion was plain:

the Working Group concludes that Mr. Bala was detained on discriminatory grounds, based on his atheism1

No trial, it added, "should have taken place."23 The prisoner was Mubarak Bala, president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria. This chapter asks how a boy raised in the strict Islamic schools of Kano came to lose his faith, why it took him a decade to say so, and what saying so cost him: eighteen days in a psychiatric ward, and more than four and a half years in prison.

A supporter in Accra holding a #FreeMubarakBala sign, May 2020. The sign is not Bala's own.
A supporter in Accra holding a #FreeMubarakBala sign, May 2020. The sign is not Bala's own.Owula kpakpo, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

A believer in Kano

He was born in Kano State, in northern Nigeria, in 1984; the UN record gives the date as 11 July.4 He comes, he wrote, from a family of Islamic scholars that traces its lineage to the disciples of Usman dan Fodio.5 His primary school was a Muslim-only school funded from Saudi Arabia and his secondary school a Muslim-only private school, and he says he was taught in the Wahhabi tradition that Islam is perfect and that science is true only when it agrees with doctrine. Yet he read more science than the curriculum asked of him, from the books at home.6 He went to a secular school in the morning and a madrassa in the evening, and found the first rooted in fact, the second in fear and beatings.7

The crack came early. At seven, by his own account, he kept asking his father how and when Allah had made himself, and his father answered as well as he could to keep him in line. At school he read the whole Qur'an to see whether it agreed with what he knew, asked too many questions, and was told that God was too mysterious for his mind. His answer, he wrote, was to study the religion harder, to strengthen his faith and prove his doubts wrong.8 As a teenager he was zealous: in 2001, at sixteen, he pasted a poster of Osama bin Laden in the family's front yard, and he thought Islam was the solution to every problem. He later called himself, for those years, a "pseudo-Islamist."9 On his timeline, his faith runs from childhood to about 2003, and the childhood crack sits inside it.

Kano, seen from Dala Hill, in 2005.
Kano, seen from Dala Hill, in 2005.Shiraz Chakera, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
The Kano Central Mosque.
The Kano Central Mosque.Usmanmaifada, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Doubt, slowly

In 2003, on remedial studies outside Kano, he met Christians for the first time as ordinary people, made friends among them, and studied the Bible for interfaith debates; he "became liberal," he wrote.10 He moved from a Kano university to Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, where he became "very secular" while still thinking Islam true and Muslims simply not Muslim enough.11 In 2007 he made the pilgrimage to Mecca. By his account of 2016 he prayed there to be kept in the faith and resolved to study again and recommit, partly because to be an atheist would be political suicide, and partly from fear of the hereafter; in 2026 he told an interviewer that he reached his conclusion during the Hajj and just after it. His tellings differ.12 By 2009, he wrote, he had become an agnostic and a freethinker who kept his views private, though he learned those words only later.13 The timeline places his doubt between 2003 and 2009.

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where Bala became "very secular" as a student.
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where Bala became "very secular" as a student.Anasskoko, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Kaaba in Mecca during the Hajj of 2018. Bala made the pilgrimage in 2007.
The Kaaba in Mecca during the Hajj of 2018. Bala made the pilgrimage in 2007.Adli Wahid, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Coming out

By 2012, as Boko Haram's attacks spread across the north, he felt more like an atheist, he wrote, but he was afraid of the word, and it was Twitter that made him see he had been an atheist all along.14 What finally made him speak, by his own account, was a video in 2013 of the beheading of a Christian woman by young men his own age who spoke his language; the time for silence, he decided, was over.1516 He told people bluntly, his mother among them.16

What followed is told differently by different people. By his account, his family sent him to a psychiatrist in November 2013, who said that atheism was not a mental illness; a second doctor, in June 2014, told him that atheists are mentally disturbed and prescribed a hospital bed.171819 He was taken by force to the psychiatric ward of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and held for eighteen days.2021 The hospital said it was treating him for "a challenging psychological condition."2221 From the ward he got word to activists on a smuggled phone, and a campaign, #FreeMubarak, took up his case; he was released in early July 2014.2324 Bala says his family beat and drugged him; the BBC reported that they feared for his safety; accounts differ on the motive, and this chapter names no member of his family.25 He said he wanted reconciliation, and dropped any legal action.2627 One study of northern Nigerian Facebook found that before July 2014 most Muslim respondents treated atheists not with violence but as batattu, lost souls to be saved, which its author suggests is why Bala was confined to a ward and not lynched.2829 The timeline puts his declaration here.

Normalising atheism

After the ward, he wrote, he saw it as his duty to normalise atheism, and he resolved to write about atheism, humanism and secularism on social media every day, so that if he were taken again his absence would be noticed at once. He received threats and kept posting.30 He moved to Kaduna State.31 In December 2015 he described himself as an atheist and a godless humanist, and in 2016 he wrote that he had weaned himself from a life as a pseudo-Islamist to become liberal, secular, humanist, agnostic and finally an atheist, all without reading the books of atheism.32 By the time of his arrest he was president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, founded by Leo Igwe.3334

Leo Igwe, founder of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, who led the campaign for Bala's release.
Leo Igwe, founder of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, who led the campaign for Bala's release.Vera de Kok, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Arrest

In April 2020 he posted statements on Facebook that criticised Islam and the Prophet Muhammad; this chapter does not repeat them. He received death threats, one, his lawyers say, from a police officer.35 On 27 April a lawyer in Kano petitioned the police, writing that the posts would

definitely incite Muslims and provoke them to take the law into their own hands, which may ultimately result into public disturbance and breach of the peace3637

The next day plain-clothes police from Kano arrested him at his home in Kaduna and took him to Kano.38 In his statement to the police, according to his lawyers' petition to the UN, he said his intention had been "to encourage intellectual debate and promote religious tolerance."39 The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom said at once:

USCIRF is alarmed by this arrest, which appears to be for Mubarak Bala's peaceful exercise of his rights to both freedom of expression and freedom of belief.4041

He was held without charge and, his lawyers said, without access to family or lawyer until October.42 In December 2020 the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that his detention had violated his rights and ordered his release; Kano did not release him.43 In June 2021 Kano's prosecutor charged him with insulting the Prophet and the followers of Islam in the state, "calculated to cause breach of public peace," and said the government feared his statements would incite mob violence.444546 He was not charged under sharia, Kano's attorney general explained, because "authorities did not consider him to be a Muslim."4746 He was tried instead under the state penal code, which punishes anyone who publicly insults any religion in a way likely to lead to a breach of the peace.4849 Kano officials called his posts "inflammatory and disparaging."5035

The Federal High Court complex in Abuja. The court ruled in December 2020 that Bala's detention violated his rights.
The Federal High Court complex in Abuja. The court ruled in December 2020 that Bala's detention violated his rights.Ovinuchi Prince Ejiohuo, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Twenty-four years

He first came before a judge in February 2022, after 644 days in custody, and pleaded not guilty.51 On 5 April 2022 he pleaded guilty to all eighteen counts of insulting religion with the intent "to cause a breach of public peace," and was sentenced to twenty-four years.5253 The US commission wrote that he had pleaded guilty "against the advice of his lawyers and seemingly against his own convictions."5453 His reasons, he said in 2025, were to stay alive, to get out of Kano, and to relieve the pressure on those who stood by him.55 The judge, Farouk Lawan Adamu, as a Columbia University summary of the judgment quotes him, said:

No one stops him (Bala) from any religion, but he should understand that where his intent stops, the intent of another person starts, therefore the intent that he is thinking that he has to say whatever he wants to say or put anything is not absolute. He should be careful.5657

"There are a lot of people that may have the same ideology but not expose themselves like that," the judge added.5859 In 2024 a British member of parliament, Jim Shannon, told the House of Commons that the judicial authorities had sentenced "humanist leader Mubarak Bala to 24 years in prison for blasphemy and other charges."6061 The UN Working Group found his detention arbitrary, and that he had been held for his atheism.623 On 13 May 2024 the Court of Appeal in Kano reduced the sentence to five years, reportedly calling twenty-four excessive.63 He was released from Kuje prison in Abuja on 7 January 2025.64 "Nobody should serve 24 years or any time in prison for a nonviolent social media post," said a commissioner of the US commission.6566

The 2023 annual report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Nigeria chapter, recording Bala's sentence.
The 2023 annual report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Nigeria chapter, recording Bala's sentence.U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Annual Report 2023, Nigeria chapter

Reaffirmation

In prison, he said in January 2025, he had been forcibly converted; if friends ever heard that he had returned to Islam on his deathbed, they should know it was untrue. He had been an atheist, he said, for close to twenty years.67 In April 2025 he went to Germany for a residency with a humanist organisation.68 That July he wrote that he hoped to go back to Nigeria and perhaps enter politics, and that he would never stop criticising Islam.69 In 2026 he was in exile in Europe, and spoke of an ambition to run for president.70 The last mark on his timeline is not a revision but a reaffirmation.

Kaduna, where Bala lived and was arrested in April 2020.
Kaduna, where Bala lived and was arrested in April 2020.Jula2812, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Did his unbelief change shape?

His belief came apart slowly and in private, over a decade, from a boy's question to his father, through friendships with Christians and the pilgrimage to Mecca, to a word he was afraid of until 2012. What changed it into something public was violence: Boko Haram, and a video of a beheading. After that his unbelief did not change; the price of saying it did. A family's doctor called it madness, a court called it a crime, and a United Nations body called his detention discrimination against an atheist. He has not taken any of it back.

Leo Igwe, the Nigerian humanist who led the campaign for his release, has his own chapter in this book.

Footnotes

  1. UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak Bala (Nigeria), A/HRC/WGAD/2024/9, advance edited version, 5 June 2024, adopted 19 March 2024, ] para 90. ↩

  2. UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 81. ↩

  3. Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] paras 81, 91. ↩ ↩2

  4. Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 4; Humanists International, 2021 Freedom of Thought Award, 17 August 2021, ] ("born in Kano state, northern Nigeria, in 1984"); Mubarak Bala, "My Journey from Islamist to Free Thinker", Feminist Dissent 2016 (1), pp. 118–130 (Warwick; PDF pages are numbered 118–130 although the journal's "To cite" line says 119–130), ] p. 119. ↩

  5. Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (US House of Representatives), Defending Freedoms Project, "Mubarak Bala"; The Guardian, "Fears for Nigerian humanist held for blasphemy in sharia state", 1 May 2020; Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 4; Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] p. 119; Mubarak Bala, "Mubarak Bala on humanism, imprisonment and hope", Humanist Society Scotland, 29 July 2025, ] ("a clerical lineage"). Accounts differ; see the disputed points. ↩

  6. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 119–120; "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his atheism in Nigeria", interview by Atane Ofiaja, This is Africa, 18 December 2015. ↩

  7. Bala, "Mubarak Bala on humanism, imprisonment and hope", ] ("Growing up, leaving my faith" section, first paragraphs). ↩

  8. "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his…"; Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 121–122. ↩

  9. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 118, 120–121. ↩

  10. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] p. 122. ↩

  11. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 122–124. ↩

  12. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] p. 124; "Mubarak Bala Speaks: Freedom of Belief, Human Rights, and the Cost of Conscience in Nigeria", interview by Temitope Ajoke Adebayo, Ajoke Brown Media, 7 February 2026. ↩

  13. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 124–125; "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his…". ↩

  14. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 126–127; "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his…". ↩

  15. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 127–128; John Campbell, "Nigerian Atheist Arrested and Disappeared", Council on Foreign Relations, 2 September 2020; Ruth Maclean, "Outspoken Atheist, Arrested in Nigeria for Blasphemy, Hasn't Been Seen Since", New York Times, 25 August 2020. Read through an unauthorised reprint (https://lawcarenigeria.com/outspoken-atheist-arrested-in-nigeria-for-blasphemy-hasnt-been-seen-since/), which names the Times as source; to be checked on the original before the script. Quotes Bala's 2016 article; "Mubarak Bala Speaks: Freedom of Belief,…". Not verified. ↩

  16. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 127–128. ↩ ↩2

  17. Bala, "Mubarak Bala on humanism, imprisonment and hope"; Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] p. 128; BBC News, "Nigerian man 'detained in mental hospital for atheism'", 25 June 2014; , [Indep14] Vice (Jordan Larson) and The Independent, both 25 June 2014, on the IHEU's statement (admission date, the second doctor, the "governor" story). ↩

  18. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] p. 128. ↩

  19. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] p. 128; Mubarak Bala, "Leaving Islam", The African Humanist Journal, 1 May 2025 (part one of a serial; "to be continued"; later parts not found); An email of Bala's from the ward, quoted in Vice (Jordan Larson, 25 June 2014) and the Independent (25 June 2014), citing the IHEU, ] (the "Japan" and Adam and Eve lines in his 2014 email). ↩

  20. BBC News, Mubarak Bala freed from the ward, 4 July 2014, ] ("18 days"); Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 5; BBC News, "Nigeria atheist Mubarak Bala jailed for blaspheming Islam", 5 April 2022; TLHRC, ] ("two-week stay"); Humanists International, "Mubarak Bala" case of concern page, ] ("18 days"). ↩

  21. News, "Nigerian man 'detained in mental hospital for atheism'". ↩ ↩2

  22. Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, 2014, as reported by the BBC: News, "Nigerian man 'detained in mental hospital for atheism'". ↩

  23. Associated Press in The Guardian, "Nigerian atheist faces death threats after release from psychiatric ward", 3 July 2014; News, "Nigerian man 'detained in mental hospital for atheism'"; BBC14b; [Indep14]. ↩

  24. BBC14b; Guardian, "Nigerian atheist faces death threats after…"; Humanists International, "Mubarak Bala, President of Nigerian Humanists, arrested for blasphemy", 29 April 2020; International, "Mubarak Bala". ↩

  25. Guardian, "Nigerian atheist faces death threats after…"; BBC14b. Reported at second hand; the original has not been seen. ↩

  26. BBC14b. ↩

  27. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 128–129; "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his…". ↩

  28. The word northern Nigerian Muslim respondents used for humanists in the compassionate period: "lost souls who needed to be saved from the influence of the west": Aminu A. Abdullahi (Federal University Dutse), "A Season of Monotheism: Muslim response to humanist cyberactivism in Northern Nigeria", SocArXiv preprint, 20 February 2020, ] IV.A. ↩

  29. Abdullahi20, ] sections III.IV A–B. ↩

  30. Bala, "Leaving Islam". ↩

  31. Freedom House, "NGOs file UN petition to free Nigerian humanist Mubarak Bala on the 3rd anniversary of his arrest", 28 April 2023; Humanists International, "Nigeria: UN Working Group concludes Mubarak Bala's detention is arbitrary", July 2024; TLHRC. ↩

  32. Bala, Feminist Dissent, ] pp. 118, 130; "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his…". ↩

  33. BBC News, "Nigeria atheist Mubarak Bala: Freed from prison but still fears for his life", 8 January 2025; Al Jazeera, "Nigerian atheist jailed for blasphemy over Facebook posts", 5 April 2022; Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 4; US Department of State, 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom: Nigeria. ↩

  34. USCIRF, "USCIRF Condemns Arrest of Prominent Nigerian Atheist, Mubarak Bala", 8 May 2020; State, 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom; Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 4. ↩

  35. Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] paras 6, 12, fn 2; Same series, 2021 report; Freedom Now, Humanists International and Freedom House (with Dechert LLP), Petition to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (redacted, 2022–23). ↩ ↩2

  36. A local Kano lawyer, in the 27 April 2020 petition to the Kano police commissioner (unnamed in the UN opinion): Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 7 (quoting the petition). ↩

  37. Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 7; USCIRF, "USCIRF Condemns Arrest of Prominent Nigerian…"; TLHRC, ] (adds a Change.org petition). ↩

  38. Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 8; , [StateHRP21], [StateHRP22] US Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nigeria, 2020, 2021, 2022; StateIRF21; USCIRF, "USCIRF Condemns Arrest of Prominent Nigerian…". ↩

  39. Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 9. ↩

  40. Tony Perkins, then USCIRF Chair, 8 May 2020: USCIRF, "USCIRF Condemns Arrest of Prominent Nigerian…". ↩

  41. USCIRF, "USCIRF Condemns Arrest of Prominent Nigerian…"; Humanists UK, sentencing statement, 5 April 2022; Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 74 and fn 28. ↩

  42. Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] paras 10, 71 (unrebutted); State, 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom, ] ("granted access to his lawyer in October"). ↩

  43. [StateHRP21]; State, 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom; Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] paras 16, 73. ↩

  44. The Kano State charge, as quoted by the US State Department: StateIRF21, ], Section II, Government Practices. ↩

  45. The Kano State prosecutor, as paraphrased by the US State Department (the State sentence quoted): StateIRF21. ↩

  46. StateIRF21; StateHRP21; Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] paras 11–12. ↩ ↩2

  47. US Department of State, reporting the Kano Attorney General's explanation: StateIRF21, ], Section II, Government Practices. ↩

  48. Kano State Penal Code, section 210 (statute): Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] paras 12, 61. ↩

  49. Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] paras 12, 61–62; Same series, 2022 report (PDF). ↩

  50. Kano State officials' description of his Facebook posts, as reported by the US State Department: StateIRF22, ], Section II; StateIRF21. ↩

  51. Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 14; StateIRF22, ] ("In February ... pled not guilty"); Columbia Global Freedom of Expression, "State v. Muhhammad Mubarak Bala" (case no. K/89C/2021, decision 5 April 2022), case summary quoting the judgment by page. ↩

  52. US Department of State (describing the 2022 convictions): StateIRF22, ], Executive Summary. ↩

  53. StateIRF22; StateHRP22; , [USCIRF24] US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Annual Report 2023 and 2024, Nigeria chapters (PDFs); Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 19; News, "Nigeria atheist Mubarak Bala jailed for blaspheming Islam"; Expression, "State v. Muhhammad Mubarak Bala". ↩ ↩2

  54. USCIRF Annual Report 2023: [USCIRF24], ], Nigeria chapter, Blasphemy Cases. ↩

  55. "Jailed for Blasphemy, Freed After 4 Years — Mubarak Bala on Punishment for His Beliefs", interview by Abimbola Abatta, Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), 20 January 2025; News, "Nigeria atheist Mubarak Bala: Freed from…". ↩

  56. Justice Farouk Lawan Adamu, Kano State High Court, in sentencing (5 April 2022), as quoted from the judgment: Expression, "State v. Muhhammad Mubarak Bala", ] (judgment pp. 14–15). ↩

  57. Expression, "State v. Muhhammad Mubarak Bala", ] (citing judgment pp. 12–15). ↩

  58. Justice Farouk Lawan Adamu, Kano State High Court, sentencing, 5 April 2022: Expression, "State v. Muhhammad Mubarak Bala", ] (quoting judgment pp. 14–15); also [WGAD] paras 41, 47, 89. ↩

  59. Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] paras 19, 41, 47; Jazeera, "Nigerian atheist jailed for blasphemy over Facebook posts"; Expression, "State v. Muhhammad Mubarak Bala". ↩

  60. Jim Shannon MP, Westminster Hall, 6 February 2024: House of Commons, Westminster Hall, "Freedom of Religion and Belief in Nigeria", 6 February 2024, vol. 745, section id 98F5C871-AA63-4DD6-AB34-01D71B355C10. Text obtained from the Parliament Hansard API (https://hansard-api.parliament.uk/debates/debate/98F5C871-AA63-4DD6-AB34-01D71B355C10.json); the hansard.parliament.uk web pages return 403 to the research tool. Local: hansard-2024-02-06-nigeria-frb.txt. Open Parliament Licence; free to quote. Column numbers not captured. ↩

  61. Hansard24. ↩

  62. UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak…, ] para 91. ↩

  63. Sahara Reporters, "BREAKING: Nigerian Court of Appeal In Kano Reduces Bala's 24-Year Blasphemy Sentence To Five Years", 13 May 2024; Humanists International, "Nigeria: Court of Appeal reduces sentence of Mubarak Bala", 13 May 2024; HUK22; News, "Nigeria atheist Mubarak Bala: Freed from…"; USCIRF, "USCIRF Welcomes News of Mubarak Bala's Release from Prison in Nigeria", 8 January 2025; TLHRC; USCIRF, Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims Database entry "Mubarak Bala" (Current Location: Germany; Date of Release: 7 January 2025). ↩

  64. TLHRC; News, "Nigeria atheist Mubarak Bala: Freed from…"; Humanists International, "Nigeria: Humanist leader freed at last", 7 January 2025, ] (dated 7 Jan 2025); USCIRF, "USCIRF Welcomes News of Mubarak Bala's…"; USCIRF-DB. ↩

  65. Vicky Hartzler, USCIRF Commissioner, 8 January 2025: USCIRF, "USCIRF Welcomes News of Mubarak Bala's…". ↩

  66. News, "Nigeria atheist Mubarak Bala: Freed from…"; USCIRF, "USCIRF Welcomes News of Mubarak Bala's…". ↩

  67. "Jailed for Blasphemy, Freed After 4…"; "Mubarak Bala Speaks: Freedom of Belief,…"; Expression, "State v. Muhhammad Mubarak Bala". ↩

  68. Mubarak Bala's statement on arrival in Germany, in Humanists International, "Cause for celebration: Mubarak Bala arrives in Germany", 29 April 2025. ↩

  69. Bala, "Mubarak Bala on humanism, imprisonment and hope". ↩

  70. "Mubarak Bala Speaks: Freedom of Belief,…"; USCIRF-DB. ↩

Sources cited in the notes: UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Opinion No. 9/2024 concerning Mubarak Bala (Nigeria), A/HRC/WGAD/2024/9, advance edited version, 5 June 2024, adopted 19 March 2024.; Humanists International, 2021 Freedom of Thought Award, 17 August 2021.; Mubarak Bala, "My Journey from Islamist to Free Thinker", Feminist Dissent 2016 (1), pp. 118–130 (Warwick; PDF pages are numbered 118–130 although the journal's "To cite" line says 119–130).; Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (US House of Representatives), Defending Freedoms Project, "Mubarak Bala".; The Guardian, "Fears for Nigerian humanist held for blasphemy in sharia state", 1 May 2020.; Mubarak Bala, "Mubarak Bala on humanism, imprisonment and hope", Humanist Society Scotland, 29 July 2025.; "Mubarak Bala answers questions on his atheism in Nigeria", interview by Atane Ofiaja, This is Africa, 18 December 2015.; "Mubarak Bala Speaks: Freedom of Belief, Human Rights, and the Cost of Conscience in Nigeria", interview by Temitope Ajoke Adebayo, Ajoke Brown Media, 7 February 2026.; John Campbell, "Nigerian Atheist Arrested and Disappeared", Council on Foreign Relations, 2 September 2020.; Ruth Maclean, "Outspoken Atheist, Arrested in Nigeria for Blasphemy, Hasn't Been Seen Since", New York Times, 25 August 2020. Read through an unauthorised reprint (https://lawcarenigeria.com/outspoken-atheist-arrested-in-nigeria-for-blasphemy-hasnt-been-seen-since/), which names the Times as source; to be checked on the original before the script. Quotes Bala's 2016 article.; BBC News, "Nigerian man 'detained in mental hospital for atheism'", 25 June 2014.; , [Indep14] Vice (Jordan Larson) and The Independent, both 25 June 2014, on the IHEU's statement (admission date, the second doctor, the "governor" story).; Mubarak Bala, "Leaving Islam", The African Humanist Journal, 1 May 2025 (part one of a serial; "to be continued"; later parts not found).; An email of Bala's from the ward, quoted in Vice (Jordan Larson, 25 June 2014) and the Independent (25 June 2014), citing the IHEU.; BBC News, Mubarak Bala freed from the ward, 4 July 2014.; BBC News, "Nigeria atheist Mubarak Bala jailed for blaspheming Islam", 5 April 2022.; Humanists International, "Mubarak Bala" case of concern page.; Associated Press in The Guardian, "Nigerian atheist faces death threats after release from psychiatric ward", 3 July 2014.; Humanists International, "Mubarak Bala, President of Nigerian Humanists, arrested for blasphemy", 29 April 2020.; Aminu A. Abdullahi (Federal University Dutse), "A Season of Monotheism: Muslim response to humanist cyberactivism in Northern Nigeria", SocArXiv preprint, 20 February 2020.; Freedom House, "NGOs file UN petition to free Nigerian humanist Mubarak Bala on the 3rd anniversary of his arrest", 28 April 2023.; Humanists International, "Nigeria: UN Working Group concludes Mubarak Bala's detention is arbitrary", July 2024.; BBC News, "Nigeria atheist Mubarak Bala: Freed from prison but still fears for his life", 8 January 2025.; Al Jazeera, "Nigerian atheist jailed for blasphemy over Facebook posts", 5 April 2022.; US Department of State, 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom: Nigeria.; USCIRF, "USCIRF Condemns Arrest of Prominent Nigerian Atheist, Mubarak Bala", 8 May 2020.; Same series, 2021 report.; Freedom Now, Humanists International and Freedom House (with Dechert LLP), Petition to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (redacted, 2022–23).; , [StateHRP21], [StateHRP22] US Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nigeria, 2020, 2021, 2022.; Humanists UK, sentencing statement, 5 April 2022.; Same series, 2022 report (PDF).; Columbia Global Freedom of Expression, "State v. Muhhammad Mubarak Bala" (case no. K/89C/2021, decision 5 April 2022), case summary quoting the judgment by page.; , [USCIRF24] US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Annual Report 2023 and 2024, Nigeria chapters (PDFs).; "Jailed for Blasphemy, Freed After 4 Years — Mubarak Bala on Punishment for His Beliefs", interview by Abimbola Abatta, Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), 20 January 2025.; House of Commons, Westminster Hall, "Freedom of Religion and Belief in Nigeria", 6 February 2024, vol. 745, section id 98F5C871-AA63-4DD6-AB34-01D71B355C10. Text obtained from the Parliament Hansard API (https://hansard-api.parliament.uk/debates/debate/98F5C871-AA63-4DD6-AB34-01D71B355C10.json); the hansard.parliament.uk web pages return 403 to the research tool. Local: hansard-2024-02-06-nigeria-frb.txt. Open Parliament Licence; free to quote. Column numbers not captured.; Sahara Reporters, "BREAKING: Nigerian Court of Appeal In Kano Reduces Bala's 24-Year Blasphemy Sentence To Five Years", 13 May 2024.; Humanists International, "Nigeria: Court of Appeal reduces sentence of Mubarak Bala", 13 May 2024.; USCIRF, "USCIRF Welcomes News of Mubarak Bala's Release from Prison in Nigeria", 8 January 2025.; USCIRF, Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims Database entry "Mubarak Bala" (Current Location: Germany; Date of Release: 7 January 2025).; Humanists International, "Nigeria: Humanist leader freed at last", 7 January 2025.; Mubarak Bala's statement on arrival in Germany, in Humanists International, "Cause for celebration: Mubarak Bala arrives in Germany", 29 April 2025.

In their own words

insulting religion with the intent “to cause a breach of public peace.”

US Department of State (describing the 2022 convictions) · [StateIRF22], Executive Summary

Bala was not charged with blasphemy under sharia because authorities did not consider him to be a Muslim

US Department of State, reporting the Kano Attorney General's explanation · [StateIRF21], Section II, Government Practices

no trial should have taken place

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention · [WGAD] para 81

the Working Group concludes that Mr. Bala was detained on discriminatory grounds, based on his atheism

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention · [WGAD] para 90

protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief

UN Working Group, citing the Human Rights Committee's General Comment No. 22 · [WGAD] para 78

is arbitrary and falls within categories I, II, III and V

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention · [WGAD] para 91

USCIRF is alarmed by this arrest, which appears to be for Mubarak Bala’s peaceful exercise of his rights to both freedom of expression and freedom of belief.

Tony Perkins, then USCIRF Chair, 8 May 2020 · [USCIRF-PR20]

Nobody should serve 24 years or any time in prison for a nonviolent social media post

Vicky Hartzler, USCIRF Commissioner, 8 January 2025 · [USCIRF-PR25]

pled guilty against the advice of his lawyers and seemingly against his own convictions

USCIRF Annual Report 2023 · [USCIRF23], Nigeria chapter, Blasphemy Cases

There are a lot of people that may have the same ideology but not expose themselves like that.

Justice Farouk Lawan Adamu, Kano State High Court, sentencing, 5 April 2022 · [Columbia22] (quoting judgment pp. 14–15); also [WGAD] paras 41, 47, 89

his family conspired to drug, beat, and forcibly commit him to a psychiatric ward

US House Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission · [TLHRC]

I dreaded the word ‘atheism'

Mubarak Bala, 2025 · [HSS25]

I was just pretending to have faith while no longer believing

Mubarak Bala, 2025 · [HSS25]

I will never stop criticising Islam, nor any dogma that kills people, or asks people to murder, rape, and pillage.

Mubarak Bala, 2025 · [HSS25]

My activism, my posting on social media, I always knew the worst would happen

Mubarak Bala to the BBC, January 2025 · [BBC25]

for the sake of reconciliation

Mubarak Bala, statement of July 2014 · [BBC14b]

The answer is simple. I asked the right questions.

Mubarak Bala, 2016 · [FD16] p. 118

From a life of a pseudo-Islamist, I weaned myself to be liberal, secular, humanist, agnostic and, finally, an atheist, all without ever knowing the books or ideologies of atheism.

Mubarak Bala, 2016 · [FD16] p. 118

I intensified study of the religion to increase my faith and prove my doubts wrong.

Mubarak Bala, 2016 · [FD16] p. 122

By 2009, I became agnostic.

Mubarak Bala, 2016 · [FD16] p. 125

By then I felt more like an atheist but I just was not confident to name myself as such. I was actually afraid of the term.

Mubarak Bala, 2016 · [FD16] p. 126

It was Twitter that catapulted me to realise I had been an atheist all along.

Mubarak Bala, 2016 · [FD16] p. 126

What finally made me come out as atheist was a video of a beheading of a female Christian back in 2013 by boys around my age, speaking my language. It hit me that the time for silence is over. Either someone speaks out or we all sink.

Mubarak Bala, 2016 · [FD16] pp. 127–128

Other judicial authorities sentenced humanist leader Mubarak Bala to 24 years in prison for blasphemy and other charges.

Jim Shannon MP, Westminster Hall, 6 February 2024 · [Hansard24]

We all know the case of Mubarak Bala—we have spoken about that in this place, with the same audience—but there are others imprisoned in Nigeria on blasphemy charges.

Lyn Brown MP (shadow minister), Westminster Hall, 6 February 2024 · [Hansard24]

The other side

definitely incite Muslims and provoke them to take the law into their own hands, which may ultimately result into public disturbance and breach of the peace

A local Kano lawyer, in the 27 April 2020 petition to the Kano police commissioner (unnamed in the UN opinion) · [WGAD] para 7 (quoting the petition)

inflammatory and disparaging

Kano State officials' description of his Facebook posts, as reported by the US State Department · [StateIRF22], Section II; [StateIRF21]

insulting the Holy Prophet of Islam, … [and] the entire followers of Islamic religion in Kano State, calculated to cause breach of public peace.

The Kano State charge, as quoted by the US State Department · [StateIRF21], Section II, Government Practices

The Kano State prosecutor said the government feared Bala’s statements would incite mob violence.

The Kano State prosecutor, as paraphrased by the US State Department (the State sentence quoted) · [StateIRF21]

whoever by any means publicly insults or seeks to incite contempt of any religion in such a manner as to be likely to lead to breach of the peace, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or a fine or with both

Kano State Penal Code, section 210 (statute) · [WGAD] paras 12, 61

The Kano state government denied any wrongdoing in the trial and said the judgement could be appealed.

Al Jazeera's report of the Kano government's response · [AJ22]

challenging psychological condition

Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, 2014, as reported by the BBC · [BBC14a]

batattu

The word northern Nigerian Muslim respondents used for humanists in the compassionate period: "lost souls who needed to be saved from the influence of the west" · [Abdullahi20] IV.A

No one stops him (Bala) from any religion, but he should understand that where his intent stops, the intent of another person starts, therefore the intent that he is thinking that he has to say whatever he wants to say or put anything is not absolute. He should be careful.

Justice Farouk Lawan Adamu, Kano State High Court, in sentencing (5 April 2022), as quoted from the judgment · [Columbia22] (judgment pp. 14–15)

Where accounts differ

PointOne accountAnotherHow the page handles it
Why the family committed himPer Bala (AP 2014) his father, two uncles and elder brother beat, drugged and committed him; advocacy sources say they "conspired" ([Guardian14]; [TLHRC])Reported that the family feared for his safety after he stated his atheism ([BBC14b]); his lawyer said the reconciliation concerned remarks about his father, not his faith; in 2016 Bala himself reports the family's reasoning as the doctor's: that atheism is a mental disorder ([FD16] p. 128)Say "accounts differ" on the motive; give Bala's version as his own, the BBC's report as another; name no family member
Who seized him in 2014"Father, two uncles and elder brother" beat and drugged him ([Guardian14]); "my father and my senior brother" present, "they took me by force" ([FD16] p. 128)The uncles held him while his father injected a drug ([TAHJ25])Say "his family", without detail
When the loss of belief happened2016: agnostic by 2009; "felt more like an atheist" about 2012; came out 2013 ([FD16] pp. 124–128)2015: agnostic and humanist by university, vocal by 2009, atheist confirmed from 2012 ([TIA15]); 2025: atheist "for close to 20 years" (about 2005) and "close to a decade" of pretending before 2014 ([FIJ25]; [HSS25]); 2026: conclusion at the 2007 Hajj ([Ajoke26]); BBC: "renounced Islam in 2014" ([BBC25])Present the sequence as his own, saying that his tellings differ by a few years; do not fix a single year. The script's Doubt mark can sit at 2003–2009 with the 2007 Hajj as the turn
His age during the First Gulf War"I was 9" ([FD16] p. 120)Born 1984, he would have been about six in 1990–91; at seven he asked his father about Allah ([TIA15]); the 2001 age of 16 fits 1984–85Say "as a boy" and leave the age out
Why 2007 matteredAt the Hajj he prayed to be kept in the faith and resolved to re-commit ([FD16] p. 124)In 2026 he says he reached his conclusion "during my hajj and immediately after" ([Ajoke26])Quote neither as a date of conversion; present the Hajj as the moment doubt and fear met
Release date from the psychiatric ward"Freed on Tuesday" (4 July 2014 BBC: 1 July) ([BBC14b])"freed on 3 July 2014" ([HI20])"Early July 2014"
Duration of ward stay18 days ([BBC14b]; [WGAD] para 5; [HI-case])"two-week stay" ([TLHRC])"Eighteen days", citing BBC and the UN petition
Whether a warrant existedThe petitioners say none was shown and none issued ([WGAD] para 8)A fellow campaigner said a warrant was issued in Kano ([Guardian20])Say the petitioners say no warrant was shown; Nigeria did not reply
Date of first access to lawyers2 October 2020 ([WGAD] para 10)"until November that year" ([AAI])"Months later"; use the UN date if a date is needed
Date the charges were filed22 June 2021 ([StateHRP21])23 June 2021, signed; communicated 3 August 2021 ([WGAD] para 11)"June 2021"
Date of the Abuja ruling21 December 2020 ([StateHRP20]; [WGAD] paras 16, 73)"1 December 2020" ([WGAD] para 23)21 December 2020 (the UN opinion's own para 16 and 73 say so; para 23 is a slip)
How the 24 years add upJudge said counts would run concurrently, then gave 24 years ([StateIRF22])Consecutive terms totalling 24 years ([WGAD] para 19); Bala: "40 years ... 24 ... and 16" with the terms concurrent, so 24 in all ([HSS25]); Columbia lists 16 + 24 and its count list does not add up ([Columbia22])"24 years"; do not try to explain the arithmetic
How many posts were chargedNine statements ([WGAD] para 6, fn 2)Five posts, in March 2020 ([Columbia22]); 18 counts in the end ([WGAD]; [StateIRF22])"Posts in April 2020" and "18 counts"
Release date7 January 2025 ([TLHRC]; [BBC25] 8 Jan; [USCIRF-PR25] 8 Jan; [USCIRF-DB] 7 Jan; [HI25a] dated 7 Jan)One HI sentence in [HI25a]: "ultimately released from prison on 19 August 2024, 1,574 days after he was detained"Use 7 January 2025; the 1,574-day figure would be 19 August 2024 and is probably a slip, flagged to David
Number of counts18 counts ([WGAD]; [StateIRF22]; [BBC22]; [Columbia22])"24 charges" (Wikipedia, Tier 4)18 counts
"Son of" or "related to" an Islamic scholar"son of an Islamic scholar" ([Guardian20]; [TLHRC])"related to a prominent Islamic scholar" ([WGAD] para 4)"From a family of Islamic scholars", per his own account of a "family of scholars" ([FD16] p. 119)
Whether blasphemy under sharia was availableKano AG: not charged under sharia because not considered a Muslim ([StateIRF21])Reports said he could have faced death in sharia courts ([AJ22]; [Guardian20])State plainly that he was tried in a secular court, which carries no death penalty, and that the sharia route was not taken
Year of the humanist presidencyActing interim president from the 2019 conference ([HAN-overview])"President" in USCIRF and UN texts of 2020; "former President" in 2025 ([HI25b])"President of the Humanist Association of Nigeria at the time of his arrest"

List of illustrations

This page uses only public-domain and Creative Commons images; each is credited with its source and licence.

  1. Activist in Accra, Ghana, holding a '#FreeMubarakBala' sign during the online Free Mubarak campaign (8 May 2020) — Owula kpakpo, 2020-05-08 · Owula kpakpo, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (as stated on the Wikimedia Commons file page)
  2. Kano seen from Dala Hill (2005) — Shiraz Chakera, 2005-09-13 · Shiraz Chakera, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 · CC BY-SA 2.0 (as stated on the Wikimedia Commons file page)
  3. Kano Central Mosque (photographed 2023) — Usmanmaifada, 2024-01-08 · Usmanmaifada, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 · CC0 (as stated on the Wikimedia Commons file page)
  4. Gate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (2021) — Anasskoko, 2021-07-28 · Anasskoko, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (as stated on the Wikimedia Commons file page)
  5. The Kaaba during the 2018 Hajj, Mecca — Adli Wahid, 2018-08-26 · Adli Wahid, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (as stated on the Wikimedia Commons file page)
  6. Leo Igwe, human rights activist and humanist (2012) — Vera de Kok, 2012-05-27 · Vera de Kok, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0 (as stated on the Wikimedia Commons file page)
  7. Federal High Court Complex, Abuja (2018) — Ovinuchi Prince Ejiohuo, 2018-10-31 · Ovinuchi Prince Ejiohuo, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (as stated on the Wikimedia Commons file page)
  8. USCIRF Annual Report 2023, Nigeria chapter, printed p. 31 (blasphemy cases: Kano court sentences 'humanist leader Mubarak Bala' to 24 years) — U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2023-05 · U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Annual Report 2023, Nigeria chapter · Public domain (work of a US federal commission; fact sheet entry USCIRF23)
  9. Kaduna River, Kaduna (2007) — Jula2812, 2007-07-20 · Jula2812, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (as stated on the Wikimedia Commons file page)

Sources

Tier 1 — the subject's own words and the legal record

Tier 2 — government records, reference and scholarship (free)

Tier 3 — journalism and advocacy statements (leads; paraphrase and cite)

Tier 4 — maps to other sources only (never cited in the script)

  • Wikipedia, "Mubarak Bala" (read 2026-10-13 and again 2026-10-14; last edited 2026-10-14). Its reference list led to [FD16], [NYT20], [Vice14] and [Indep14]. Its claim that a video of a beheading in 2013 prompted him to speak out is now traced to Bala's own 2016 article [21]. It still says "24 charges", against the 18 counts of the court record, and "released in late 2024".
  • Grokipedia, "Mubarak Bala" (seen only as a search result; not used).

Opposition sources — those who prosecuted him and those who answered him

  • [Petition-lawyer] The 27 April 2020 petition to the Kano police commissioner, as quoted in [WGAD] para 7.
  • [Kano-charge] The Kano State charge sheet and prosecutor's stated reasons, as reported in [StateIRF21] and [StateHRP22].
  • [Columbia22] The sentencing judge's reasons, as quoted from the judgment.
  • [AJ22] The Kano State government's response to the sentence.
  • [Abdullahi20] How Muslim respondents in northern Nigeria answered humanist activism on Facebook, 2014–2018.
  • [FD16] Bala reports the arguments his family and doctor used (the Al-Ghazali story, "you need a god") in his own text; no text by the father was found.