A Sokoto Chief Magistrates’ Court, presided over by Chief Magistrate Faruk Umar, has ordered that 18-year-old social media activist, Hamdiyya Sidi Shariff, be given 12 strokes of the cane, two years imprisonment, or a fine of N50,000.
Shariff was arrested on November 13, 2024, and remanded in prison for allegedly criticising rising killings and widespread insecurity in Sokoto State through a social media post.
A social media user, Maliq (@MasterMaliq), posted on the X platform on Thursday that before Shariff was arrested, she was abducted by armed men while on her way to retrieve her mobile phone from a charging point. She was beaten, thrown out of a moving tricycle, and left with severe injuries.
In a viral video, Shariff revealed how bandits pillaged their villages without any restraints and how displaced women seeking refuge in the state capital are now being sexually exploited due to abject poverty and squalor.
The Sokoto State government first charged her before a Sharia court for the “use of insulting or abusive language” and “inciting disturbance” after she criticised Governor Ahmed Aliyu in a TikTok video.
Punch
