Talle Mai Ruwa, a local water vendor who apparently suffered from mental illness, was taken from police custody by a mob, beaten to death, and incinerated in the midst of a crowd. He had been accused of blaspheming Muhammad.
Talle Mai Ruwa was a water merchant in majority-Muslim northern Nigeria. Reportedly a Muslim, residents of the village he lived in who knew him said that he suffered from some kind of mental illness.
In March 2020, he apparently got into an argument with a woman who was trying to take water without paying. In the midst of the argument, he allegedly insulted both the woman and the Prophet Muhammad. He also reportedly confessed to his blasphemy. He was taken into the police station for this “offense.”
“The village youths donated money to buy the petrol that was used to burn and kill Talle Mai Ruwa.” - village resident
A mob of incensed villagers were not satisfied. They arrived at the police station and broke in, managing to take him and beat him to death. They then burned his body to ash. Many of them had smartphones, and footage and photographs of his burning body were posted online.
By all accounts, his mother was present when he was murdered and his body burned.
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Talle Mai Ruwa News - Opera News
Nigeria is a Muslim-majority country, though only narrowly, and nearly half of its inhabitants are Christians. The division between the two faiths manifests along geographical lines, with Muslims living mostly in the northern regions and Christians living mostly in the southern regions. Insults to religion in general are punishable for all citizens, while crimes more specific to Islam, including apostasy, are punished only in states that incorporate Islamic courts for their Muslim residents.