Senior Iranian official Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has condemned the Nigerian military’s bloody crackdown on the Shia Muslim community in the African country.
Ayatollah Rafsanjani, who is chairman of Iran's Expediency Council, on Wednesday denounced the recent raid on the house of the revered Nigerian Shia cleric, Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, and the killing of a large number of Shias in the country.
The Iranian official said around 10 million Shias live in Nigeria without causing any trouble, but they have recently been subjected to acts of aggression under “false pretexts.”
Local media said on December 12 that more than a dozen people were killed after clashes erupted between the Nigerian army and Shia Muslims in the northern city of Zaria in Kaduna State. The military accused the Shias of attempting to assassinate Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, the chief of the Nigerian army staff.
The clashes broke out when Nigerian soldiers opened fire on the people attending a religious ceremony at Hussainiyyah Baqeeyatullah, a religious center belonging to the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN).
One day later, Sheikh al-Zakzaky and his wife were arrested during a raid by the army on his residence and the buildings connected to the Shia community in Zaria. Local sources say hundreds of people trying to protect the cleric were killed.
The Nigerian army and Zakzaky's daughter have confirmed the arrest of the top cleric.
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