Nigerian Rights Group Urges Unconditional Release of Sheikh Zakzaky
In a statement by its Executive Director, Joseph Otteh, Access
to Justice (A2Justice) urged Nigeria’s federal government to reverse the
growing atmosphere of impunity and lawlessness.
A2Justice went on to say that while the Kaduna State
government charged over 259 members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN),
headed by Sheikh Zakzaky, with the murder of one soldier, no military officer
was charged for the killing of the group’s members.
A Nigerian court earlier this month ruled that Sheikh
Zakzaky should be released unconditionally.
The Abuja division of the Federal High Court of Nigeria on December
2 also ruled that Zakzaky's wife, Zeenat, should be released.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole said the court had come to the
conclusion that the Shia cleric and his wife "have been kept against their
desires, thereby resulting in the breach of their rights to liberty."
The judge also stated that he had ordered the "immediate
release” of the two "because the family house in Zaria was destroyed between
December 12 and December 14, 2015.”
The prominent cleric 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.
Kolawole 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.
The judge 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.
Last month, 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.
