It became clear to a defense attorney that his client's freedom as a Christian journalist in Nigeria was no longer only being restricted, but that he was being purposefully targeted for persecution.
As has been earlier reported by the International Christian Concern (ICC), Luka Binniyat, a Christian journalist and spokesman for the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), was arrested and imprisoned on November 15.
Although Binniyat has posted bail, ICC correspondents said that he has been refused bail.
The Magistrate Court in Barnawa, Kaduna State, held a hearing on Tuesday. Binniyat's defense attorney, Barrister Yakubu Bawa, pleaded with the court to free his client. He begged that Binniyat be freed on bond in line with his constitutional rights. In response, the prosecution asked the court for more time. The Commissioner of Police's lawyer, MD Leo, esquire, remarked, "We need legal advice to continue the case."
Consequently, His Worship Honorable Aliu Dogora, the Chief Magistrate Judge of Barnawa's Magistrate Court, reportedly rejected Binniyat's bail and remanded the case until Dec. 6, 2021.
Bawa told ICC that Binniyat should have been freed.
"He is innocent-he was just expressing his freedom as a journalist. The state government's law is threatening to journalists," he said.
Bawa told the court on Tuesday that it was "obvious" the prosecution was not ready with the case. According to the Nigerian Constitution, Binniyat has the right to be granted bail or released. Bawa expressed his displeasure with his client's arrest to an ICC official in Kaduna.
"Binniyat is facing persecution, not prosecution," he proclaimed.
The ICC also noted that eventhough Binniyat is a member of the Nigerian Union of Journalists in Kaduna State, the organization has yet to report on his incarceration.
A comparable silence has been observed in Kaduna under the administration of Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
Meanwhile, Binniyat's loved ones are still hoping and praying for his safe return.
"I want to celebrate Christmas with my husband," said Binniyat's wife Gladys. Her five sons and one daughter, she told ICC, really needed their father.
"They want to see him," she added. "Celebrating Christmas without him will affect the entire family, including his sick father who is staying with us."
She also disclosed that it is getting increasingly difficult to care for their children, and that her husband's absence is taking a toll on their lives.
This isn't the first time that Binniyat has been arrested. ICC said that the Kaduna state government had previously imprisoned Binniyat in 2017 for reporting on Christians being persecuted in the southern Kaduna region of the state.
The International Committee on Nigeria argued that time that Binniyat was just "reporting what he believed to be the truth, which should be protected by the Nigerian constitution in a so-called democratic society. His quotes were not threatening nor were they defamatory as they reported an ongoing crisis in southern Kaduna."
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of State has released a list of countries deemed to be abusers of human rights across the world. Nigeria, which was identified as a Country of Particular Concern last year for "systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom," was conspicuously absent from the list. Consequently, human rights organizations in Washington, DC, and throughout the world were alarmed by the sudden shift in policy.
