IHRC’s Free Zakzaky campaign asks campaigners to please send an email to the Commonwealth and demand its intervention on denial of amnesty to Zakzakys amid Covid-19 crisis. A model email and contact details of the Commonwealth are provided below. Please forward any responses you receive to IHRC at wajahat@ihrc.org
Background
Requested Action
Model email
Recipient Addresses
Background
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.
The Sheikh and his wife have been kept in illegal detention for over four years. The federal high court of Nigeria has ordered the release of the Sheikh and his wife including compensation. However, the state authorities have decided to prosecute the couple and imprison them in the Kaduna State prison where the conditions of living pose a threat for their wellbeing, especially in the current pandemic climate.
We are urging the Nigerian authorities to release Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife Muallima Zeenah, other members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria and other political and relevant prisoners. This is a policy that needs to be implemented quickly in Nigeria, given the worsening coronavirus pandemic.
Requested Action
IHRC are calling upon campaigners to send an email to the Commonwealth and demand its intervention on denial of amnesty to Zakzakys amid Covid-19 crisis. A model email and contact details of the Commonwealth are provided below. Please forward any responses you receive to IHRC at wajahat@ihrc.org
Model email
If you are emailing, please use the following in the subject line:
Outrage over denial of amnesty to Zakzakys amid Covid-19 crisis
Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC
Commonwealth Secretariat
Marlborough House
Pall Mall
London
SW1Y 5HX
Re: Outrage over denial of amnesty to Zakzakys amid Covid-19 crisis
Dear Baroness Scotland QC,
I am shocked to find that the Nigerian president’s amnesty on 9 April to 2500 prisoners did not include Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his wife Muallima Zeenah and indeed other political and relevant prisoners.
Sheikh El-Zakzaky and Muallima Zeenah continue to be held in illegal detention despite a 2016 federal high court ruling that their detention is unlawful and unconstitutional. I am writing to you to urge the Nigerian government to release Sheikh Ibraheem el-Zakzaky and Muallima Zeenah 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, both of whom have underlying health conditions, but for all prisoners wherever possible for the sake of justice and also for the sake of Nigerian society as a whole.
[Your name]
Commonwealth’s Contact Details:
Email: info@commonwealth.int
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7747 6500
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7930 0827
In the current circumstances we do not advise sending letters by post.
