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Nigeria Digest #33

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Nigeria Digest #33

21 April 2018

Islamic Human Rights Commission
NIGERIA DIGEST 21 April 2018 (Volume 2 Issue 18)

Introduction
Action Alert
Articles and Resources Digest

INTRODUCTION

Below please find an update on the Global #FreeZakzaky protests and continued demonstrations and Sit-outs in the Nigerian capital Abuja. Police attacked peaceful protesters with live bullets, water cannon and tear gas, killed at least one protester, wounded many and arrested hundreds of them during this week.

We request campaigners to continue with last week’s action alert and urge your friends to send letters / emails to the Commonwealth demanding the immediate release of the Sheikh and all those unjustly imprisoned, and justice for the victims of Zaria massacre.

To find out more about the Zaria massacre, read IHRC’s submission to the International Criminal Court HERE

To find out how you can help further, please visit the IHRC FreeZakzaky campaign page HERE

Note: To enable images in this digest please click on “always show content from this sender” – on top of your email just under sender’s address.

Free Zakzaky!

ACTION ALERT: Medical Treatment for Life Threatening Medical Condition of Sheikh Zakzaky

1. CLICK HERE to send an email to the Commonwealth Secretary General and demand their intervention in this case, a model letter and contact details of the Commonwealth Secretariat also provided below

2. If you receive a response please forward it to IHRC at info@ihrc.org

Model email / letter

Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC
Commonwealth Secretariat
Marlborough House
Pall Mall
London
SW1Y 5HX

[Date]

Dear Baroness Scotland QC,

Re: Sheikh Zakzaky

I am writing to ask for your urgent intervention to allow the illegally detained Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife to leave Nigeria for urgent medical treatment due to their critically deteriorating life threatening medical conditions.

Last week, 15 April 2018 marked 100 continuous days of demonstrations in Nigeria demanding medical treatment for the life threatening medical condition of Sheikh Zakzaky.

The Sheikh’s personal doctor confirmed in his most recent report that his only remaining eye is in danger due to chronic glaucoma and recommended him to be taken abroad for urgent treatment by a specialist, this specialist treatment is not available in any of the Nigerian hospitals.

I am extremely concerned as Sheikh Zakzaky suffered a stroke in early January and his condition has further deteriorated due to continued unlawful detention preventing his medical treatment. He was shot severally more than two years ago, losing his left eye in the process and is currently at a great risk of losing the other eye.

I urge your office to play an active role and make known in unconditional terms that the Nigerian Government will be held directly responsible if anything happens to the Sheikh or his wife and due to seriousness and urgency of the situation I demand that the Commonwealth secretariat takes the following actions:

1. Send a representative to Nigeria to see Mu’allim Zakzaky, his family and other detainees to assess their situation and intervene to allow specialist medical treatment outside Nigeria.

2. Suspend Nigeria’s membership of the Commonwealth for the violence perpetrated by its army against the Islamic Movement of Nigeria;

3. Demand the release of those held after mass arrests or being handed over to civilian police authorities;

4. Demand the Nigerian government provide proper and immediate medical attention to all detainees and that all are released;

5. Call for an independent investigation, under the auspices of an international body like the UN, into the violence and mass graves. The bodies of those in the mass graves need to be exhumed, identified and returned to their families. The Nigerian government and army needs to be held accountable for these crimes.

I look forward to hearing from you

Yours Sincerely,

[Name]

Commonwealth Secretariat Contact Details:

Email: info@commonwealth.int; geneva@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

Another Free Zakzaky Protest at National Mosque Abuja
20 April 2018
Another massive free Sheikh Zakzaky Protest was organised in Abuja National Mosque on Friday the 20th of April 2018.

Free Zakzaky Protest in Abuja on Thursday 19 of April
19 April 2018
Despite threat from security forces thousands staged peaceful fee Zakzkay protest in Abuja on Thursday the 19 of April 2018.

Police Shot Down FreeZakzaky Protester
19 April 2018
During a peaceful protest to press for Sheikh Zakzaky’s freedom, the police short Rufa’i Abubakr Bauchi in the head on Monday the 16th of April 2018. The bullet hit him so hard that his brain leaked out. He spent three days in coma before he succumbed to his injury yesterday in Kano Teaching Hospital on Thursday the 19th of April 2018.
Warning: Graphic pictures in above link.

Another FreeZakzaky Protest on Wednesday 18 April
18 April 2018

Free Sheikh Protest was staged in Abuja on Wednesday the 18th of April 2018 despite threat from Security Forces. No threat can stop peaceful protest until Sheikh Zakzaky is released.

Security forces were strategically placed in major streets and motor parks arresting any one who looks like a follower fo Sheikh Zakzaky. Despite this, thousands staged the protest. The number of people arrested by the police can not be ascertained

Police Continue The Brutal Clampdown On Free Zakzaky Protesters In Abuja, Arrest Scores
18 April 2018

Another scores of members of the Islamic Movement protesting the continued unjustified detention of Sheikh Zakzaky were again arrested in Abuja today Wednesday, April 18, 2018.

The latest round of arrests occurred when armed police blocked exit routes from where the free Zakzaky protests took place today, after they suffocated the area with teargas. As people left the area, they were ambushed and forcibly taken into custody. Meanwhile, those previously arrested following yesterday’s and previous day’s protests remain in their custody. The detainees, numbering hundreds, were denied food, water and medical attention, as well as chances to offer prayers.

Another FreeZakzaky Protest in Abuja on Tuesday
17 April 2018
A fresh free Zakzaky protest was staged in Abuja on Tuesday the 17th of April 2018, just a day after a police crackdown on the protesters on Monday.

Police Attacked Peaceful FreeZakzaky Protest
15 April 2018
Security forces which include soldiers and mobile police have attacked free Zakzaky Protesters in Abuja on Monday the 16th of April 2018 with tear gas and live ammunition. Watch Video Clip on following YouTube link;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=13&v=LDJosQcB8OM

IHRC PRESS RELEASE – Abuja, Nigeria: Police open fire at Free Zakzaky protestors
16 April 2018

Police have opened fire on protestors in the centre of the Nigerian capital Abuja killing at least one and injuring two.

Eye-witnesses report that the dead and wounded were targeted by sniper fire as they tried to stage a peaceful protest in support of the detained leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. Tear gas was also used against the demonstrators.

Today’s police violence follows the arrest last Friday of the convener of the daily Free Zakzaky sit-in protest at the Unity Fountain. Police have since taken over the location and attempted to stop the protests from continuing.

‘No Amount of Killing Will Stop Us,’ Protester Says after Nigerian Police Open Fire
16 April 2018
ABUJA — Nigerian police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse Muslim protesters marching for their leader’s freedom in the capital on Monday, and organizers said at least one demonstrator was killed and several were wounded by gunfire.

“As we started protesting, they started shooting tear gas and using water cannons,” Abdullahi Muhammad, an IMN youth leader, told Reuters by phone. “We refused to disperse and they used bullets as well, and they shot so many people.”

“They want to push us to violence but they couldn’t, so that is why they are using live ammunition, thinking that killing will stop us. No amount of killing will stop us,” he added.

Muhammad said he witnessed police dragging bullet-hit protesters into a van and sitting on them, adding that he did not know if they were dead or alive.

At least eight other IMN members were hit by bullets and were now receiving treatment, Muhammad told Reuters. An IMN statement said at least one protester was killed.

PRESS RELEASE – Nigeria/Worldwide: Protests held worldwide demanding release of Sheikh Zakzaky
15 April 2018

Protests have been held worldwide demanding the release of the illegally detained leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim el-Zakzaky.

Demonstrators took to the streets in London, Geneva, Toronto, Turkey, Denmark, Indonesia and Pakistan on Sunday 15 April 2018 to mark 100 days since protests broke out all over Nigeria demanding the Sheikh’s release after he suffered a stroke at the beginning of the year.

Following are few pictures of the demonstration in Istanbul, Turkey;