{"id":121754,"date":"2023-11-27T17:09:18","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T17:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cottontailsonline.com\/?p=121754"},"modified":"2023-11-27T17:09:18","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T17:09:18","slug":"woman-set-for-blasphemy-trial-after-condemning-brutal-lynching-of-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cottontailsonline.com\/world-news\/woman-set-for-blasphemy-trial-after-condemning-brutal-lynching-of-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman set for blasphemy trial after condemning brutal lynching of student"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A healthcare worker charged with blasphemy laws simply for condeming the brutal killing of a student in Nigeria has today failed in her attempt to get a trial date in order for her case to be heard.<\/p>\n

Mother-of-five Rhoda Jatau, 45, appeared at the High Court in Bauchi in the north of the country, having spent the last 18 months in prison.<\/p>\n

She has reportedly been held without a trial and without the ability to communicate with her family.<\/p>\n

Ms Jatau was arrested was taken into custody after sharing a video of and commenting on the horrific lynching of 22-year-old Deborah Samuel Yakubu in May of last year.<\/p>\n

Ms Yakubu, a Christian, used a student WhatsApp group to thank Jesus Christ for helping her pass her exams at Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, Nigeria, where she was studying.<\/p>\n

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As a result, she was dragged from her college dormitory by male students, stoned and burned to death.<\/p>\n

Despite the faces of her killers faces being clearly visible in gruesome viral footage circulated on West African social media networks, nobody has so far been charged with her murder.<\/p>\n

Five days after her killing, healthcare worker and mother Rhoda Jatau commented on the case to her colleagues.<\/p>\n

Sharing a video clip with a WhatsApp group of Bauchi State Primary Healthcare workers, she condemned the murder, defending Yakubu\u2019s right to express her religious beliefs.<\/p>\n

Ms Jatau\u2019s colleagues forwarded her message, at which point she was accused of blasphemy.<\/p>\n

Her neighbourhood in Katanga, Warji Local Government Area, was engulfed by rioting and violence. She was arrested, and her husband and children fled their home.<\/p>\n

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Rhoda was taken into custody and charged by the authorities with blasphemy, inciting a mob, and contempt of a religious creed.<\/p>\n

In December 2022, she was charged with \u201cintention to disturb the public peace in which the content of the video is a blasphemy of the Prophet Mohammed which seriously incited disturbance and caused the breach of peace of the community…\u201d.<\/p>\n

Human rights lawyers have pointed out that Sections 38 and 39 of Nigeria\u2019s constitution guarantee freedom of thought, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and expression.<\/p>\n

Human rights experts claim the continual postponements of the hearing are a tactic to keep Ms Jatau in jail indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Today was the sixth attempt by her lawyers to secure her a trial and mount a defence. Previous hearings have collapsed due to the local government citing delays, loss of paperwork, or declaring unexpected holidays.<\/p>\n

Caroline Duffield of Open Doors UK & Ireland said: \u201cThis is a bitter blow. Rhoda Jatau has been imprisoned without trial for 18 months now.<\/p>\n

“Her only crime was to tell friends on social media that she condemned a shocking act of mob violence that killed an innocent woman.<\/p>\n