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Islamic Human Rights Commission

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22 May 2017

PRESS RELEASE – Nigeria (breaking news): Police attack protestors seeking release of IMN leader

Police in Nigeria fired water cannon at protestors in Nigeria demonstrating against the continued detention of Sheikh Ibrahim el-Zakzaky and his wife in the capital Abuja.

The protest, by the Academic Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, is one of many such demonstrations in recent weeks to have come under attack from the authorities.

The have been held without charge and mainly incommunicado following their arrest during a savage military assault against the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) in December 2015. Both were shot during the attack in Zaria in which at least 1000 IMN supporters, including three sons of the couple, were killed and many properties and religious spaces belonging to the IMN and its followers destroyed.

Although Nigeria’s High Court ordered the release of the pair on 2 December 2016 after a period of detention of almost a year the order has yet to be implemented.

For media enquiries or further details please call +44 20 8904 4222 or +44 7958 522196 or +44 7426 728074[Ends]

Notes to editors:

In March 2016 IHRC petitioned the International Criminal Court to to open a preliminary inquiry into the December 2015 massacre of IMN members. The report can be found here

Water cannon pictures attached:

• Image 1
• Image 2
• Image 3

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IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

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