Nigerians protest rally in Abuja to demand Sheikh Zakzaki's release

Shia Muslims in Nigerian capital of Abuja have one again staged a protest rally to call for the release of the prominent religious scholar Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, who is still in prison despite a 2016 high court ruling.

According to Press TV, the protest was held in front of the Federal Ministry of Justice. Spokesman for Zaksaky’s Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Abdullahi Muhammad, explained on Friday that the protest move came since “our leader would not be released to us.”

“We his followers are tired, and we want the Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami to do the needful by releasing our leader,” Muhammad said, further insisting that Prosecution Counsel Dari Bayero had complained of lack of adequate security in Zakzaki’s home town of Kaduna, prompting presiding Judge Gideon Kurada to adjourn the court without issuing a release order for the elderly cleric.

“This is inhuman; the government keeps telling us they are protecting Zakzaky and keep coming up with excuses,” Muhammad further emphasized, adding: “Today at a Kaduna High Court, the ruling on the bail application of our leader was again adjourned to November 7.”

Scores of Zakzaki’s followers were arrested during a brutal raid by the security forces on the IMN headquarters in December 2015.

During the raid, Nigerian forces martyred nearly 300 Zakzaky supporters, including three of his sons, and later buried them in mass graves.

Zakzaky and his wife, who were shot and injured during the raid and were taken into custody.

SS