Rhoda Jatau, a northern Christian healthcare worker who spent 19 months in jail on blasphemy charges, has finally been acquitted – one year after being released on bail. Throughout her time in prison, CSI campaigned for Jatau’s release.
The mother of five was jailed on charges of inciting public disturbance, “exciting contempt of religious creed”, and cyber stalking. Finally, on December 8, 2023, more than a year and a half after she was detained, Jatau was released on bail. But the charges against her still stood. Now a court in Bauchi State, in northern Nigeria, has acquitted her of all charges.
On December 11, 2024, the court convened again on the case. Solomon Mwantiri, a local CSI project partner, told CSI that the court had accepted the defense’s argument that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“The court discharged and acquitted Rhoda Jatau of the accusations brought against her by the Bauchi State government,” Mwantiri wrote. Jatau’s legal team did not share the news of her acquittal until more than a week after the hearing, however.
“After a two-and-a-half-year ordeal, including 19 long months in prison, we are happy that Rhoda finally has been acquitted of any wrongdoing,” Jatau’s lead counsel said in a response quoted by Morning Star News.
“We thank all who have been praying for Rhoda, and we ask for your continued prayers as Nigerians continue to push back against persecution.”
Blasphemy accusations
Jatau was accused of blasphemy in connection with a video she allegedly shared with colleagues condemning the lynching on May 12, 2022, of a Christian college student, Deborah Yakubu, in Sokoto State.
Yakubu, who led a women’s university Christian fellowship, was murdered on campus by a Muslim mob who accused her of blaspheming Islam. Specifically, she is said in a group chat to have credited Jesus with her success in an exam, and refused to issue a retraction as demanded by Muslim students.
After Jatau allegedly shared the video, she herself became a target of hatred and blasphemy accusations. According to witnesses, more than 200 Muslims where she lived in Warji, Bauchi State, gathered to attack her. Jatau was only saved from a lynching by the intervention of police, but was then detained and charged under blasphemy and cyber stalking provisions of the legal code.
Meanwhile, the crowd, armed with stones, sticks and knives, attacked and injured 15 Christians, including the pastor of a local Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) congregation where Jatau worshiped.
They also razed houses and shops belonging to Christians in the town.
Concerns over Jatau’s treatment
CSI launched a campaign for Jatau’s release after she was taken into custody on May 20, 2022. And as part of a coalition of human rights groups, CSI issued an appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief to take up the case.
In response, the Special Rapporteur and other UN human rights experts released a statement in October 2023 expressing concern at the arrest and detention of Jatau for merely exercising her right to freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief. Moreover, they pointed out that Jatau had been repeatedly denied bail and since her arrest had only had intermittent access to legal counsel. Less than two months after the statement was issued, Jatau was freed.
Bauchi State is one of 12 northern Nigerian states to have adopted shari’a law into their criminal justice system since 1999. In recent years, blasphemy provisions have seen several Nigerians sentenced to lengthy prison sentences, or even death, for perceived insults to Islam.
