'Music is not a crime': U.N. experts urge Nigeria to lift singer's death sentence

A replica hangman's noose is seen during a protest outside the Old Bailey courthouse in London February 26, 2014. REUTERS/Toby Melville

U.N. rights experts asked Nigeria on Monday to release a 22-year-old singer who was condemned to death over an allegedly blasphemous song, and said the sentence broke international law.

Yahaya Aminu Sharif was sentenced last month by a sharia court in Kano, the commercial hub of Nigeria’s mostly Muslim North after he performed the song and shared it on WhatsApp.