Biafra separatist campaigner Simon Ekpa has appealed his terrorism conviction and six-year prison sentence in Finland.
According to BBC Pidgin, the Finnish prosecutor handling the case has also appealed, arguing that the sentence imposed on Ekpa is insufficient given the nature of the terrorism-related offences.
The Finnish Court of Appeal is expected to hear the case within the next three weeks.
Finnish authorities arrested Ekpa in November 2024, after which he was charged with inciting terrorism and participating in the activities of a terrorist group.
In September 2025, the Päijät-Häme District Court sentenced him to six years in prison after finding him guilty of the offences.
The court ruled that Ekpa had used his “significant social media following” to fuel tensions in Nigeria’s South-east between August 2021 and November 2024.
It also found that he was an influential figure within a militant separatist movement seeking to establish an independent Biafra state in Nigeria.
According to the court, Ekpa supplied some groups with weapons, explosives and ammunition “through his network of contacts in the region, and he was also found to have encouraged his followers on social media platform X to commit crimes in Nigeria”.
He was additionally convicted of aggravated tax fraud and violating provisions of the Attorneys Act.
Ekpa is a self-described disciple of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
In March 2025, the Nigerian government designated Ekpa a “terrorism financier”.