Mubarak Bala wearing a white robe and black fez-style hat talking into a microphoine against a green curtain.

Mubarak Bala released from prison

January 9, 2025

Our ally and friend Mubarak Bala, President of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, has been released from prison in Nigeria, but concerns for his safety remain.

We are delighted that our ally and friend Mubarak Bala, a tireless and brave campaigner for humanism in the majority-Muslim country of Nigeria, has been released from prison in Abuja. Mubarak was arrested in April 2020 on charges of “blasphemy” following a single Facebook post. In 2022, following a trial marred by irregularities, he was sentenced to 24 years in prison. This was drastically reduced in 2024 by Nigeria’s court of appeal to five years.

Humanist Society Scotland has a longstanding relationship with Mubarak and the wider humanist community in Nigeria. In 2020, Mubarak won our Gordon Ross Humanist of the Year Award. We have helped to fund his legal fees throughout his trial and imprisonment. We have also encouraged our members and supporters to write letters of support to Mubarak during his imprisonment, including at recent conferences.

While Mubarak’s release is wonderful news, he continues to face threats to his safety and that of his family. Speaking to the BBC on his release, he stated that: “the concern about my safety is always there….Freedom is here, but also there is an underlying threat.” Nigeria is one of the most religious countries in the world. Sharia law operates in 12 states in the north of the country, and Nigeria’s criminal law upholds the offence of blasphemy.

Our CEO Fraser Sutherland said:

It is great news that Mubarak has been released from prison, but this does not undo the catastrophic decision to prosecute him for blasphemy in the first place. That Mubarak lost four and a half years of his life detained for expressing his humanist beliefs online is an appalling human rights violation by the Nigerian state.

We hope that Mubarak is now given the freedom to live his life peacefully with his friends and family without further persecution. Mubarak’s case is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to persecution of humanists, atheists and free thinkers around the world. We are very grateful for the hard work done by Humanists International in this case and many others to highlight the issues and provide support.

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