Amnesty International (AI) has decried the failure of Nigerian authorities to bring to justice killers’ of Deborah Samuel.
The female Christian student was lynched to death by Muslim schoolmates, who accused her of blasphemy.
Amnesty is disappointed that going to two years after Deborah was lynched and burnt to death in the school, her killers still walked free without prosecution.
Amnesty International which stated this in a statement posted on its X (formerly Twitter) handle on Monday, regretted that despite the fact that the killers of Deborah Samuel did not hide their faces in video shots, while committing the heinous crime, the State found it difficult to bring them to justice since May 12, 2022.
The global human rights organisation stated that the consistent failure of the Nigerian government to tackle violence in the name of religion effectively communicated the message that people could commit murder and get away with it.
The statement partly read:
“#Deborah Samuel was lynched by her school mates over alleged #blasphemy on 12 May 2022 in #Sokoto. More than a year after, the Nigerian authorities have failed to hold her killers to account.
“In a flagrant show of utter disdain for the sanctity of life and impunity, a video footage of a raging fire and a man facing the camera, bragging that he killed and burnt Deborah Samuel — while also brandishing a matchbox — was widely shared on social media.
“Consistent failure of the #Nigerian government to tackle violence in the name of religion has effectively sent the message that anyone can commit outrageous abuses and get away with it. This is unacceptable.”
