Nigerian forces martyred mourner in Kaduna’s Ashura procession

Nigerian forces have martyred a mourner and a press reporter after attacking the Ashura procession in the northern state of Kaduna.

According to Press TV, the deadly incident took place in the eponymous provincial capital on Sunday, when Muslim mourners held a procession to commemorate Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussain (AS, grandson and the third Infallible successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

The Nigerian forces opened live fire against the mourners, killing a Kaduna press reporter, identified as Bashir, and a teenage mourner, identified as Mohammed Baqer, the UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said in a report.

It added that an unidentified number of others sustained injuries during the raid on the Ashura procession.

“The use of live ammunition against peaceful protestors and this case mourners taking part in a religious ceremony, are part of the Nigerian landscape under [Nigerian President Muhammadu] Buhari,” Massoud Shadjareh, head of IHRC, said.

He called on the Nigerian authorities to stop their attacks against unarmed and peaceful people, demanding the launch of “an immediate process of restitution.”

Nigerian forces have for the past several years mounted a bloody crackdown on the Shia Muslim minority in the African country.

Nigeria’s top Shia Muslim religious figure Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, who is in his mid-60s, has been in detention since December 2015 after his home in Zaria, also in Kaduna, was brutally raided by the country’s security forces, during which he was beaten and lost his left eye.

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

SS