Rallies Held in Nigeria to Demand Shia Leader’s Release
The demonstrators underlined that the government should act upon a court order to release the two immediately and unconditionally, al-Alam news network reported.
A committee set up to pursue their release held a press conference in the capital Abuja in which it condemned the government’s refusal to set the two free.
It also called on
international bodies and human rights organizations to put pressure on the
Nigerian government over the issue.
The prominent cleric and his wife were taken into custody on December 14, 2015, after deadly clashes between the supporters of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) and Nigerian army troops.
Nearly 350 members of the Shia movement were killed in the clashes. The sheikh was brutally injured and his house was reportedly destroyed by the army in the incident.
After detaining Zakzaky, the Nigerian government stepped up its crackdown on the IMN.
In November 2016, nearly 100 IMN supporters were killed when Nigerian forces fired live rounds and teargas at mourners during a peaceful march ahead of the Arbaeen mourning rituals, which mark 40 days after the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Shia Imam.
Authorities also destroyed a number of buildings belonging to the IMN.
Early in December, Nigeria’s Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the unconditional release of Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife within 45 days.
Delivering the judgment, the Presiding Judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole held that the continued detention of El-Zakzaky and his wife by state instrumentality was an arbitrary act.
Kolawole said no extant law within the country’s statutory legal frameworks and external ones subscribed to by the state had allowed anybody to be held against his or her wishes.
Most Commented 