IMN calls on FGN for immediate release of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky

In the statement that IMN made available to NAIJ.com, saying that it continued to strongly voice its opposition to the lame excuses forwarded by the government for his continued incarceration, especially the most irrational of all that of the so-called protective custody.

The Islamic group said: The federal High Court in Abuja had declared as alien to all known laws of the land and indeed all laws known to man, the concept of protective custody.

Sheikh Zakzaky has been most consistent critic of the scam called "Boko Haram." He has maintained that the phantom group is a creation of the “oil-hungry west.”

He pointed out that the terror group expanded exponentially due to a massive influx of personnel and arms from Libya after the French-led, U.S.-backed NATO regime change project.

He was also quite vociferous against the injustices perpetrated by the United States against weaker nations, accusing Washington of spreading discord among Muslims. He remained the most consistent critic of the Israeli entity for its abysmal treatment of Palestinians. It seems fairly certain that both the U.S. and the Israeli entity approve of the indefinite detention of Sheikh Zakzaky.

The group also noted that judge of the Abuja Federal High Court, Gabriel Kolawole said inter-alia in his considered judgement: the 1st and 3rd respondents have not been able to discharge the burden placed on them to prove either the legality of the Applicant’s detention in the 1st Respondent’s custody, or to prove that he consents to his being held in a “protective custody”.

Justice Kolawole also said: "When I reflected on all the issues and questions which I had raised in the course of reviewing the processes filed and exchanged by both parties, not only was I unable to set my eyes on the provision of any law or the Constitution by which the Applicant’s detention, albeit in a protective custody can be justified.

This in essence, is the basic concept of constitutionalism and rule of law in very democratic State such as ours.

The group however claimed that government continues to hide under this façade to deceive the public on the actual reasons it continues to breech Sheikh Zakzaky's freedom.

It said:That is the only explanation for the deafening silence of the western media in spite of flagrant abuse of rights of the Sheikh and his supporters on a scale never before experienced anywhere else.

As the Sheikh clocks 600 days in illegal detention, we renew our unequivocal call for his immediate and unconditional release.

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) said there was a new plot to assassinate its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, who was in an illegal detention.

IMN also said the plot includes a simultaneous attack on its members in several cities of Northern Nigeria.

The prominent cleric Ayatollah Ibrahim Zakzaky and his wife were taken into custody on December 14, 2115, after deadly clashes between the supporters of the IMN movement and Nigerian 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.

The judge said he had given 45 days for authorities to provide new accommodation for the Zakzaky family. The accommodation is to be in the town of Zaria, Kaduna state, where the family were detained, or in other parts of the state or alternatively any other part of northern Nigeria.

Kolawole said the State Security Service would pay each of Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife $78,984 in compensation for the violation of their rights by being held in unlawful custody for nearly a year.

Nearly 100 IMN supporters were killed when Nigerian forces fired live rounds and tear gas 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.

The Nigerian government has stepped up its crackdown on the IMN since the December 2015 deadly incident.



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