From: Islamic Human Rights Commission
19 April 2020
Nigeria Digest #116 (Volume 3 Issue 48)- Take Action write to the Commonwealth
Free sanitizers distributed by the followers of Sheikh Zakzaky amid the Covid-19 crisis, and more news.
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
Yesterday President Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff and staunch enemy of Sheikh Zakzaky, Abba Kyari died of coronavirus. During this week, followers of Sheikh Zakzaky distributed free hand sanitizers amid the covid-19 crisis and reiterated calls for the immediate release of Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife. 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 dua.
#FreeZakzaky!
ACTION ALERT:
Click here to send an email to the Commonwealth and demand their intervention in this case. A model letter and contact details of the Commonwealth are provided below. Please forward any responses you receive to IHRC at wajahat@ihrc.org.
Model email / letter
If you are emailing, please use the following in the subject line:
Outrage over denial of amnesty for Zakzaky’s amid Covid-19 crisis
Your name
Your address
Date
Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC
Commonwealth Secretariat
Marlborough House
Pall Mall
London
SW1Y 5HX
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 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 their detention to be unlawful and unconstitutional. I am writing to you to urge the Nigerian government to release Sheikh Ibraheem el-Zakzaky and his wife 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, who both have underlying health conditions, for all prisoners wherever possible for the sake of justice in these cases but also the sake of Nigerian society as a whole.
[Signed if posting]
[Your name]
Commonwealth’s Contact Details:
Email: info@commonwealth.int
Postal Address: Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7747 6500
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7930 0827
ARTICLES AND RESOURCES
Free Sanitizers Distributed By The #FreeZakzaky Campaigners in Nigeria
15 April 2020
Followers of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky distributed hand sanitizer freely to the residents of Kano. Reiterating call for the immediate and unconditional release of the Sheikh and his wife Malama Zeenah.
Food Items were also distributed to people. Brothers and sisters under the Islamic Movement Medical Team (ISMA) have, for several days, been supporting the community in the fight against spread of Coronavirus within the locality. Click here to read the details.
“Abba Kyari dies of Covid-19, he was the most powerful entity in the Buhari regime and part of the group behind Zaria massacre, he did everything possible to kill / deny freedom to the Sheikh Zakzaky”
Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari dies of COVID-19
18 April 2020 – Daily Trust
President Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff Abba Kyari has passed on. Kyari tested positive for Covid-19 in March.
Nigeria on Friday reported fifty-one new cases of coronavirus, taking the total confirmed cases in the most populous black nation to 493. 159 patients have been successfully treated and discharged while 17 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak of the virus in Nigeria, according to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
VIDEOS
Nigeria: The Zaria Massacres and the Role of the Military
Published on 19 October 2014
Click on the following link to watch the IHRC Side Panel at UN Human Rights Council, 18 September 2014
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
Click here to read Arzu Merali’s blog “The Unbearable Shianess of Mu’allim Ibraheem El-Zakzaky” published on 21 December 2017.
Click here to read the letter by IHRC Chair Massoud Shadjareh to the ICC regarding the preservation of Zaria massacre-evidence. published on 30 November 2017.
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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
PO Box 598
Wembley
HA9 7XH
United Kingdom
Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222
Email: info@ihrc.org
Web: www.ihrc.org
Twitter @ihrc
The opinions expressed in this digest do not necessarily reflect the views of IHRC
