IHRC has written to the Nigerian president Bola Tinubu urging him to take immediate action over last month’s massacre by soldiers of demonstrators taking part in an Al-Quds Day protest in the capital Abuja.

On March 28, at the end of Ramadan, armed soldiers attacked the peaceful procession using live ammunition leading to the killing of at least 26 demonstrators and the arrest of a further 274, including minors.

There are many credible reports of protestors also being violently beaten using heavy sticks in a manner designed to inflict serious injury.

At least some of the deceased are believed to have died while in the custody of the FCT Police Command. Many of the injured have been left with life-threatening and life-changing injuries.

The attack on March 28 by soldiers of the Guards Brigade came after a public campaign of vilification by federal security authorities leading up to Al-Quds Day which in retrospect appears to have been intended to fabricate a pretext for the bloody attack.

The attack appears to have been pre-planned, targeting the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, which organises the annual marches across Nigeria. Ahead of the march, IHRC had warned of the high potential for violence by security forces.

Regular state violence against the Islamic Movement was a feature of the previous administration under President Buhari but has abated since Tinubu assumed the presidency.

One such attack, the massacre of over 1000 supporters of the IMN in December 2015, is the subject of a complaint currently before the International Criminal Court.

The letter, which has been sent by the Universal Justice Network of which the IHRC is a co-founder, reminds the president that the kind of violence meted out to protestors on March 28 risks dragging Nigeria back to a dark era of unchecked executive violence and human rights abuses with little or no accountability for those responsible.

The use of this level of force and live ammunition against peaceful and unarmed protestors is a flagrant violation of both domestic and international law. The killings of innocent demonstrators amounts to extra-judicial execution. They undermine both the internal integrity of the country and Nigeria’s reputation abroad.

The letter calls on the president to launch an immediate independent investigation into the attack by security forces on March 28 with a view to identifying the perpetrators, including those in the chain of command, and bringing them to justice. Public confidence in the rule of law can only survive if abuses of this kind are dealt with swiftly, decisively and forcefully.

The full letter can be read here. 

For more information or comment please contact the Press Office on (+44) 208 904 0222[ENDS]

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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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