Nigerian military still holding IMN members hostage - statement

AhlulBayt News Agency - The Islamic Movement in Nigeria issued a statement on 4th of July 2016, expressed grave concern over the ongoing crackdown on Islamic Movement and the unknown situation of it's members in Army's prisons.

"We are deeply concerned that the Military that waged a savage attack on the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the leadership of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky in Zaria December last year is holding hundreds of our members in various detention facilities across the nation" said Ibrahim Mousa the president media forum of IMN.

He added: "We are reliably informed of the sinister move of some personnel in the Army to keep them in indefinite detention without trial.

"In the aftermath of the Military’s carnage in Zaria, news have been circulating that some brothers and sisters of the Islamic Movement have been abducted by the Military.

"We have been hoping, it seems against hope, that the military will gradually release them as time passes, but for seven months now the Military has refused to even acknowledge their abduction.

"However we are glad that before the eyes of the world, the Kaduna state government admitted burying 347 bodies of our members in a mass grave, which in itself is a war crime, and before us is a list of 850 our missing members since the December attack.

"Inevitably the question begging for answer is where are the remaining 503? Could they be in the military hands? We believe so, since only one mass grave has been disclosed to the public so far. There might also be another undisclosed mass grave dug by the Military.

"Though at the Justice Muhammad Lawal Garba Commission of inquiry on the incident, the Military refused to disclose how many of our members it killed, we call on all relevant authorities to force the military to make further disclosures. It should with all urgency release our abducted members without any conditionality.

"We wish to reiterate that the killing of over one thousand people will not simply die down, even here in Nigeria, where the unimaginable do occur. We will not rest on our oars until justice is done to the greave families of the victims of the military’s onslaught on the Islamic Movement.

"It is on record that 191 members of the Islamic Movement are facing trump up charges in Kaduna courts, while our Leader is incarcerated together with his wife without charges against them.

"We still insist and call for their immediate and unconditional release from detention. We hereby attach the updated list of our missing persons for all to see".




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