Iran’s SNSC voices concerns about Sheikh Zakzaky’s health

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) voiced concerns about the health conditions of Nigeria Shia cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky.

In a statement released on Friday, the SNSC secretariat said the Abuja government would be held responsible if anything untoward happens the justice-seeking cleric.

The statement regretted that nearly 3.5 years after Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife were illegally taken into custody, reports suggest that the Nigerian government and judicial system are hampering efforts for the release of the Sheikh, who is severely ill, on lame excuses.

It regretted that while Nigeria’s high court ordered the release of the Sheikh and his wife in December 2016, they have not been set free yet.

The statement underlined that the Nigerian government, as a member of the United Nations, is duty bound according to international laws and conventions to recognize the religious freedom of Muslims, who make up around half of the country’s population.

It called on all justice-seeking people around the world to stand up against the stark injustice done to the cleric and Nigerian Muslims and demand the release of Sheikh Zakzaky.

It also called for bringing to justice all those responsible for the crimes committed against Nigerian Shia Muslims in the 2015 massacre.

Zakzaky has been in detention since December 2015 after his residence in the city of Zaria was raided by Nigeria’s forces, during which he was beaten and lost his left eye.

During the brutal crackdown, three of his sons lost their lives, his wife sustained serious wounds and more than 300 of his followers were killed.

Zakzaky was charged in April 2018 with murder, culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disruption of public peace and other accusations. He has pleaded not guilty, vehemently rejecting all accusations brought up against him by his country's authorities.

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