US charges Nigeria with violating religious freedom

The commission reported a worsening of criminal activity and violent armed group incidents that affected religious freedom.

A Shari’a court executed Sheikh Kabara for blasphemy, according to one of the examples cited by the commission. For blasphemy and other offenses, judicial authorities jailed humanist leader Mubarak Bala for 24 years.

The United States claims that “in 2022, the environment for religious freedom in Nigeria remained unfavorable, with both state and non-state actors committing particularly egregious violations of religious freedom.

While some government representatives worked to address the causes of religious freedom violations, other officials actively violated the rights to religious freedom of Nigerians, including by enforcing blasphemy laws. Religious freedom was worsened by increased criminal activity and armed group violence.

In addition, the report stated that “rampant violence and atrocities across Nigeria continued to impact freedom of religion or belief, including militant Islamist violence; some forms of identity-based violence; mob violence; and criminal, political, and vigilante violence impacting worship.”

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The US stated that it took note of the federal authorities’ accelerated efforts to address violence affecting religious freedom, including by institutionalizing harsher punishments against offenders, enhancing military efforts to neutralize Islamist fighters in the North, and stepping up efforts to look into and apprehend offenders of the most heinous attacks.

“The effectiveness of these efforts remained in question, while in some regions state and local officials failed to fully prosecute individuals who incited mob violence against alleged blasphemers,” it was stated.

“Security and judicial sector reform aimed at preventing and offering redress for religious violence remained stagnant, with such efforts largely absent from or peripheral to leading politicians’ policy priorities,” the report stated.

In spite of ongoing problems with religious freedom in the nation, it was added, “In November, the U.S. Department of State failed to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern for engaging in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

The Commission recommended that the United States government “designate Nigeria as a CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act, and redesignate Boko Haram and ISWAP as ‘entities of particular concern,’ or EPCs, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by IRFA.”