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As the timeline for the release of the detained leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife expires on Monday, the Amnesty International is calling on the Federal Government to comply with his release order.
On December 2, 2016 the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that Mr. El-Zakzaky and Zeenah Ibraheem should be released within 45 days. The court described their detention, which began in December 2015, as illegal and unconstitutional. The deadline for the court order expires on Monday, January 16.
Mr. El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenah Ibraheem, have been in detention without charge for more than a year following a clash between his supporters and the Nigerian military in which soldiers allegedly killed hundreds of men, women and children in a gun duel with the sect’s supporters.
The authorities claim he is being held in “protective custody.”
“The 45 day deadline given for their release expires today. If the government deliberately disregards the orders of its own courts, it will demonstrate a flagrant – and dangerous – contempt for the rule of law,” said Interim Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Makmid Kamara.
“El-Zakzaky is being unlawfully detained. This might be part of a wider effort to cover up the gruesome crimes committed by members of the security forces in Zaria in December 2015 that left hundreds dead.”
Amnesty International is also calling on the Nigerian authorities to release other IMN supporters arrested at the same time as Mr. El-Zakzaky and his wife, who likewise remain in detention without charge.
According to Amnesty International’s research, more than 350 IMN members were killed by security forces between 12 and 14 December 2015 in Zaria, Kaduna State.
The IMN is a Shi’ite religious and political organisation whose leader, El-Zakzaky, has been a proponent of Shi’a Islam in Nigeria since the 1980s.
Processions, demonstrations and other activities organized by the IMN, usually without obtaining the necessary permits and at times blocking public roads, have resulted in confrontation with the Nigerian authorities and strained relations with other communities.
