The appeal division of the Kano State Superior Court overturned Omar Farouq’s sentence on Thursday because he had no legal representation at his first trial, his lawyer Kola Alapinni told CNN.
He will be released on Monday after being in captivity for more than five months without access to family or lawyers.
The Sharia court trial overturned on Thursday described him as a minor under 17, but Alapinni told CNN that his client is 13 years old.
Alapinni said Farouq’s mother fled to a neighboring city after crowds broke into her home after her arrest.
“Now we need to provide a safe passage for him. His life is in danger in Kano – it will never be the same,” said Alapinni.
He was not entitled to legal representation before or during the trial – in violation of the constitutional right of Nigerian citizens to legal representation, his lawyers said.
He was convicted on August 10 for making “a blasphemous statement against the prophet Muhammad in a WhatsApp group,” the trial document said.
Blasphemy is a crime that carries the death penalty under the Sharia Penal Code of the State of Kano.
The recording was widely shared, causing mass outrage in the highly conservative and Muslim-majority state, according to several reports.
However, the Sharif-Aminu case was returned to the Sharia court for a retrial due to procedural irregularities, said Alapinni.
The lawyer told CNN that his team will appeal the decision in full.
“Both cases have similar facts and the same judge. Why is one defendant free and the other not?” he said.
Amnesty International director Osai Ojigho said he welcomed Farouq’s release and that “he shouldn’t have been convicted in the first [place]. “
“We reiterate our position that Aminu Yahaya Shariff should have a fair hearing,” she added.
Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje told clerics in Kano in August that he would sign Sharif-Aminu’s death sentence as soon as the singer had exhausted the appeal process, according to local media reports.
The state of Kano, like most predominantly Muslim states in Nigeria, practices Sharia law alongside secular law.
In the eyes of many Nigerians, the adoption of Sharia law is a violation of the country’s constitution, because they believe that Article 10 guarantees religious freedom.
“This blasphemy issue is incompatible with the Nigerian constitution,” Leo Igwe, chairman of the board of trustees of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, told CNN in September.
The court maintained the legality of the Sharia Penal system in both cases, a decision Alapinni said he would also appeal to the Federal Court.
“It goes to the root of religious freedom in Nigeria,” he added.