Nigeria is typing...

I hope you have a good start to this busy week. Dominica (an island country in the Caribbean), Eswatini, Maldives and Slovakia are having elections.

In issue this issue, I write about Nigeria's military and some very serious allegations, blasphemy laws in Indonesia and how they are increasingly being used to prosecute non-Muslim civilians, and the latest huge push for Indigenous rights in Brazil. I also take you to a music festival in Lebanon and Colombia, we shake our booties to an Egyptian pop song, and celebrate a good deal of good news from Africa, and so much more.

Nigeria accounts for more than half of Africa's missing. The military may know why

What's happening:
An investigation this month found that the Nigerian army, while fighting Boko Haram, may have killed and buried hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians without trial.

Why this matters:
Nigeria has ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons From Enforced Disappearance, which tasks countries to do everything they can to find people who have gone missing and, if they have died, to find and honor their bodies. Another, the Minnesota Protocol, says that if someone dies in a way that might be against the law, the government has to look into it and prosecute those responsible. It also states that victims have a right to remedy and that family members of missing people have a right to information on what (may have) happened to them, and "the right to know extends to society as a whole."

Tell me more:
There are more than 25,000 missing people in Nigeria, more than in any other country on the African continent. Many of them disappeared during 2011 and 2016, as the Nigerian army fought the extremist group Boko Haram. During that time, thousands of civilians were arrested and detained at the Giwa barracks in the northern city of Maiduguri, suspected of being affiliated with the terrorists; few of them were ever released. The new report is saying that the Nigerian army had a part, and not a minor one, to play in this.

That's a grave accusation, wow.
Yes, and they've got proof. HumAngle created a database of nearly 3,650 missing people in the Chibok, Gwoza, Bama and Askira-Uba areas of northern Nigeria. Collaborating with Washington-based New Lines magazine, HumAngle's investigations editor Kúnlé Adebajo tracked stories of missing people by interviewing eyewitnesses, using geolocation data, reviewing leaked documents and visiting sites. Adebajo told The Continent that at least 200 missing people "were arrested by security agents, mostly soldiers". HumAngle also obtained figures that show the military took more than 3,320 bodies to a morgue in Borno State between 2013 and 2022. "This doesn't include the estimated hundreds of bodies taken to mass burial/dumping sites," Adebajo said.

Has the government responded yet?
No, the government has not officially responded to the report. Things do look a little suspicious as Nigeria doesn't seem to prioritize its pretty huge missing people issue. In 2015, Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission promised to set up a database of missing persons. It is still not operational today. And last Monday, the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances said that Nigeria was nine years late in submitting a report to the UN on its progress in legislating against and preventing enforced disappearances. Mhm.

What now?
HumAngle's Kúnlé Adebajo has a list of suggestions for next steps in a video on X, "Speed up the prosecution of alleged terrorism suspects, grant them a fair trial, release those found to be innocent. Also, release the names of everyone arrested in connection with Boko Haram and acknowledge your wrongdoings in the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram. Additionally, the government should establish a compensation program for the affected families or at least apologize to them. Then, the government should launch a National Missing Persons Register."

A Muslim woman was sentenced to two years in prison for eating pork in Indonesia

What happened:
A Muslim woman in Indonesia was sentenced to two years in prison under the country's blasphemy law. The reason? While vacationing in Bali, she shared a video on TikTok on March 9, sitting in front of a plate of rice, vegetables, and a slab of crispy pork skin. Before tasting the pork, she said 'Bismillah', that translates into 'in the name of God (or Allah)' in Arabic.

Why this matters:
In Islam, eating pork is a no-no, but many non-Muslims in Indonesia, especially in places like Bali and among the Chinese community, eat it regularly. Indonesia's the biggest Muslim country in the world. Lately, there's been a shift towards more religious conservatism. Some folks are worried about how the blasphemy laws are being used, especially against religious minorities and those seen as disrespecting Islam. More than 230 million people live in Indonesia.

Tell me more:
Lina Lutfiawati, or Lina Mukherjee to her two million followers on social media, is all about lifestyle and food. For her latest video, where she's trying pork, she faced trial in the Palembang district court on Sumatra island. Even though she has since apologized for eating food of her choice and prefixing it with a common Arabic phrase, the court found the 33-year-old guilty of disseminating information that could incite hatred against religious groups. On top of her jail time, she's got to pay a fine of US$16,245, which is a lot given that the average yearly salary in Indonesia is about US$4,300. If she doesn't pay up, she could be in jail for another three months. After the verdict, she told CNN Indonesia, "I know I was wrong, but I really did not expect this punishment." It is possible that she will file an appeal.

Are blasphemy cases like Lina's common in Indonesia?
Blasphemy laws have been growing in Indonesia. Now, there are six parts of the criminal code about it. It's seen as a step back for religious freedom. Lina's case is not unique, unfortunately. More influencers on social media have been jailed for blasphemy against Islam in recent years. Even though Indonesia's laws say blasphemy against any of its six official religions is a no-go, most cases are about Islam and often involve non-Muslims....