From: Islamic Human Rights Commission
09 May 2020
Nigeria Digest #117 (Volume 3 Issue 49)– Take Action write to your country’s Nigerian ambassador / High Commissioner and copy in the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
El-Zakzaky’s legal team asks court to quash charges against him over Kaduna state’s failure to prove case
You can find all the latest actions and information, as well as background to the campaign, information, videos, audio, and details on the Sheikh on the Free Zakzaky campaign page. The Nigeria Digest is a weekly summary of the campaign to #FreeZakzaky and all who are illegally detained, focusing on the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.
Introduction
Action Alert
Articles
Videos
Archive
INTRODUCTION
During this week the legal team of Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, has filed a motion asking the High Court in Kaduna to quash all charges against him.. Find details of how to campaign below.
Please help support those injured by police brutality, and the families of those killed by the security services, by donating to the IHRC Trust Nigeria Fund here.
Above all, please remember all the oppressed in your prayers
#FreeZakzaky!
ACTION ALERT:
IHRC are calling upon campaigners to write to their country’s Nigerian ambassador / High Commissioner and copy in the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention demanding the Nigerian authorities order these releases immediately. A model letter is provided. Please forward any responses you receive to IHRC at wajahat@ihrc.org.
Model Email
Dear [Insert Ambassador / High Commissioner’s name],
I am shocked to find that the Nigerian president’s amnesty on 9 April to 2500 prisoners did not include Sheikh El-Zakzaky and Muallima Zeenah and indeed other political and relevant prisoners. The Sheikh and his wife are both aged over 60 and are suffering from severe health conditions.
Sheikh El-Zakzaky and Muallima Zeenah continue to be held in illegal detention despite a 2016 Federal High Court ruling their detention to be unlawful and unconstitutional. I am writing to you to urge your government to release Sheikh Ibraheem el-Zakzaky, his wife Muallima Zeenah and all relevant prisoners immediately. Their continued illegal detention in Kaduna State prison poses a high risk to their health, especially in the current Coronavirus climate.
This is a policy that needs to be implemented quickly in Nigeria not just for the Sheikh and his wife, who both have underlying health conditions, but for all prisoners wherever possible for the sake of justice in these cases and also for the sake of Nigerian society as a whole.
[Your name]
Recipient Addresses
Click on following link to find the name, address and contact details of the relevant diplomat in your country:
https://www.embassypages.com/nigeria
Selected names and email addresses of Ambassadors / High Commissioners can be found below. Please contact us info@ihrc.org if you have trouble finding the details of your country.
Please remember to also cc/ in Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: wgad@ohchr.org
UK: Mr Olukunle A. Bamgbose, Acting High Commissioner, information@nigeriahc.org.uk, chancery@nigeriahc.org
France: Mr Hakeem O. Sulaiman , Ambassador, embassy@nigeriafrance.com
Malaysia: Nurudeen Muhammed , Chargé d’Affaires, info@nigeria.org.my/ nigeriankl@yahoo.com
Turkey: Mr Ahmed Abdulhamid, Ambassador, embassynigeriaturkey@gmail.com
Iran: Mr Hamzat Ibrahim, Ambassador, ngrembtehran@yahoo.com/info@nigeriaembassyiran.com
India: Mr Sola Enikanolaye , High Commisioner, nigeria.new-delhi@foreignaffairs.gov.ng
nhcnder@vsnl.in
Sweden: Mrs Jane Ada Ndem, Chargé d’Affaires a.i.info@nigerianembassy.nu
In the current circumstances we do not advise sending letters by post.
ARTICLES AND RESOURCES
Falana Asks Court To Quash Charges Against El-Zakzaky Over Kaduna State’s Failure To Prove Case
30 April 2020The legal team of Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, has filed a motion asking the High Court in Kaduna to quash all charges against him.
El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, have been detained by the Nigerian Government since 2015 after hundreds of his followers were killed by the Nigerian Army in Zaria, Kaduna State.
In the motion filed by rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), on behalf of El-Zakzaky, deposed to by Muhammad Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, son of the detained IMN leader, and served on the Director of Public Prosecutions, Ministry of Justice of Kaduna, he asked the court to dismiss the case after the state’s failure to disclose the offences preferred against his client. Click here to read the details
Sheikh Zakzaky Annual Grain Distribution
29 April 2020
Followers of Sheikh Zakzaky distributed grains as a relief to the less privileged residents in Zaria, Kaduna. Traditionally the Sheikh is distributing the relief on the commencement of Ramadan for years now. Click here for further details.
IHRC ALERT: Nigeria – Demand authorities release Sheikh Zakzaky and Muallima Zeenah
27 April 2020
The current Covid-19 pandemic crisis is still ongoing. On April 9, Buhari pardoned 2500 prisoners from Nigeria’s prisons. The pardon includes prisoners aged over 60 and those suffering from severe health conditions. However, this pardon did not include Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife Muallima Zeenah, who are both over 60 and have severe health conditions. Click here to read the details.
COVID-19, Buhari vs Phantoms, Spirits, Malice, and Sheikh Zakzaky
19 April 2020 – Akelicious.net
As the cases of the COVID-19 Virus looms over the entire world, threatening to bring its scourge to Nigeria as it has done around the world, the detention of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenah Ibrahim in an unhealthy and crowded Kaduna prison; presents us with the picture we have striven to clarify to all for the past five years by our protests. We the protesters are witnesses to the haunting memory of the Terror Raid of December 2015 in Zaria. When the popularly and newly elected Government of Major General Buhari Rtd; led a massacre of innocent citizens that was portrayed to be a popular anti-terrorism operation.
VIDEOS
Message From A Nigerian Christian
Posted on September 2018
I am a Christian, Why I am here at a FreeZakzaky Protest, listen to a message from a Nigerian Christian demanding freedom for the Leader of the Islamic Movement.
An Appeal for Victims of Violence in Nigeria
Published on 27 May 2019
The Nigerian authorities have attacked the Islamic Movement of Nigeria leaving dozens dead. They need your help now. Support medical costs for those injured in police and army violence against the Islamic Movement. Support the families of those killed.
ARCHIVE
April 1998: Zeenah Ibrahim, wife of Mu’allim Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky and six of her children aged between 17 months and 11 years of age were charged with inciting hatred of Nigerian government and insulting President of the military junta, Click Here to read the details.
July 1998: IHRC called on Nigerian regime of General Abubakr Salamu to release Mu’allim Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky, the leader of Nigeria’s Islamic opposition, and all political prisoners from the Muslim Brotherhood, Click Here to read the details.
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IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
Islamic Human Rights Commission
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The opinions expressed in this digest do not necessarily reflect the views of IHRC
