The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has ruled that the blasphemy laws in Kano State, Nigeria, break international human rights agreements that Nigeria has agreed to follow.

This ruling came after a Nigerian human rights group, Expression Now Human Rights Initiative (ENHRI), took the case to the court. The group said that people in Nigeria—especially in Kano—have been unfairly arrested, kept in jail too long, or even sentenced to death because of blasphemy laws.

The court looked at two Kano laws. One was Section 210 of the Kano Penal Code, which the judges said is unclear and doesn’t meet international legal standards. The other was Section 382(b) of the Kano Sharia Penal Code, which allows the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The court said this punishment is too harsh and doesn’t fit with human rights laws.

The court ordered Nigeria’s government to change or cancel these laws to respect freedom of speech. It also said that while it’s important to respect religion and keep public peace, these laws go too far and don’t follow the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights or the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Although the court didn’t find enough proof that Nigeria failed to stop mob violence linked to blasphemy, it did agree that the right to free speech was being violated. It confirmed that the Kano blasphemy laws do not match Nigeria’s human rights duties.

This decision follows major cases like that of Mubarak Bala, a Nigerian atheist who was arrested in 2020 for making posts critical of Islam. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison but got released in January 2025 after his sentence was reduced during an appeal.