A top Nigerian court has cleared dozens of the followers of prominent religious scholar Ibrahim al-Zakzaky of criminal charges, raising hopes for the release of the religious scholar himself, who has been held captive for almost three years by the Abuja government.

According to Press TV, Justice David Shiri Wyom of the Kaduna State High Court cleared 80 detainees of the charges on Tuesday. They had been arrested during a government raid on Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) headquarters in December 2015.

During that raid, security forces martyred some 300 IMN members, including three sons of the religious scholar, and later buried them in mass graves.

Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife, who were shot and injured, were taken into custody.

Following the Tuesday ruling, prosecutor Dari Bayero said he was dissatisfied and was “in the process” of appealing the court’s verdict.

But defense lawyer Maxwell Kyon described the ruling as a victory for the movement, saying the court has found “no credible evidence” to charge the detainees.

Some one hundred other members of the movement still remain in custody.

A spokesman for the Islamic Movement said earlier in March that the government in Abuja was planning to keep the religious scholar and his wife in detention indefinitely.

SS