Sheikh Zakzaky Archives - Iran News Daily

Iran’s Qom to Host Ceremony to Honor Nigeria’s Zakzaky

reporter 1222 — Sun, 22 Dec 2019 15:30:17 +0000

Iran’s Qom to Host Ceremony to Honor Nigeria’s Zakzaky

According To Iran News, Iran’s holy city of Qom is slated to host a ceremony to honor the top Shiite cleric and leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky.

The commemoration ceremony of Sheikh Zakzaky will be held at the shrine of Hazrat Masoumah (AS) in Iran’s central city of Qom on Thursday.

Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, a member of the Assembly of Experts, plans to deliver the keynote address at the ceremony.

Sheikh Zakzaky has been held in detention since December 2015 and was charged just in April 2018 with murder, culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disruption of public peace and other accusations. He has pleaded not guilty.

In 2016, Nigeria’s federal high court ordered his unconditional release from jail following a trial, but the government has so far refused to set him free.

The top cleric, who is in his mid-sixties, lost his left eyesight in a raid which was carried out by the Nigerian army on his residence in the northern town of Zaria in December 2015.

During the raid, Zakzaky’s wife sustained serious wounds too and more than 300 of his followers and three of his sons were killed. Zakzaky, his wife, and a large number of the cleric’s followers have since been in custody.

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Cleric Pledges Iran’s Support for Sheikh Zakzaky’s Treatment

reporter 1222 — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 11:41:09 +0000

On Thursday morning, WFPIST Secretary General Ayatollah Mohsen Araki had a telephone conversation with Sheikh Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) who is in India to receive medical treatment.

Learning about the physical and mental conditions of the ailing Nigerian cleric, Ayatollah Araki voiced concern about Sheikh Zakzaky’s health, and gave him an assurance that both Iran and the WFPIST would make every effort to contribute to the process of his medical treatment.

The Nigerian Muslim leader, for his part, expressed gratitude to Iran for its helpful efforts, saying the course of his treatment at New Delhi’s Medanta hospital has not still begun.

According to Ayatollah Araki, Sheikh Zakzaky’s morale was high.

Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife flew out of Nigeria on Tuesday to get medical treatment in India.

The Arabic-language al-Ahed new agency reported on Wednesday that Sheikh Zakzaky has decided to leave India because the severe security restrictions have adversely affected the course of his medical treatment.

The top Shiite cleric has been held in detention since December 2015 and was charged just in April 2018 with murder, culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disruption of public peace and other accusations. He has pleaded not guilty.

Zakzaky has lost his left eyesight in a raid by the Nigerian army on his residence in the northern town of Zaria in December 2015.

During the raid, the cleric’s wife sustained serious wounds too and more than 300 of his followers and three of his sons were killed.

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Delay in Zakzaky’s case unjust, inhuman

reporter 1222 — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 04:30:44 +0000

Over the past few weeks protests have erupted in many countries as a result of a medical report published by a team of doctors led by Islamic Human Rights Commission that found high toxicity levels in the body of ailing Sheikh.

The court proceedings started around 9 AM in the morning where Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky was represented by Advocate Femi Falana San. The session started with the plaintiff expressing the urgency of the matter citing Sheikh’s health condition. The government counsel complained the late submission of the ‘bulky’ medical report asking for more time, which the judge rejected saying that the claim of the report being bulky was untrue.

After a round of arguments from both sides and despite plaintiff describing Sheikh’s deteriorating health condition and stating that Sheikh hadn’t slept for seven consecutive days, the court was adjourned for eleven days. The next hearing is now scheduled for 29th of July.
This delay in judgment comes at a time when Sheikh is in critical health condition and is in need of immediate medical attention.

In an interview published earlier by Zainabia Channel, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Taufeeq Panjwani, one of the members of the medical board that was sent to examine Sheikh, said: ‘We recommended the Nigerian government to allow Sheikh to leave Nigeria for medical treatment as the level of lead toxicity in the Sheikh’s body is very high.’

The Nigerian authorities may allow Sheikh to travel abroad at a later time, but the simple act of delaying the procedure might cause numerous complications in his health. As per the report by the IHRC medical team, one of Sheikh’s eyes is completely damaged, while the other one only has 20 percent vision left. This might be a result of the tragic incident when his residence was raided by the Nigerian army back in 2015, murdering three of his sons and assaulting him.

There are high possibilities of government interference in postponing and delaying his case in hope of minimizing the international pressure. Amnesty International Nigeria’s Interim Director Makmid Kamara made a statement in 2017 hinting at that.

He was quoted saying that ‘El-Zakzaky is being unlawfully detained. This might be a part of a wider effort to cover up the gruesome crimes committed by members of the security forces in Zaria in December 2015 that left hundreds dead.’

The Chairman of the Free Zakzaky Campaign Committee Mr. Abdurrahman Abubakar Yola issued a press statement to thank the international activists and allies supporting Sheikh’s cause and stated that ‘when it mattered the most, the court ducked and failed to stand for truth and justice against tyranny and impunity.’

He further added that ‘the applicants are known to be very ill in detention, consequent on the brutal wounds inflicted on them by the state agents in the name of the Nigerian army, the resultant prolonged dehumanizing detention in the custody of the Department of State Services and the obvious poisoning of the Sheikh. .. He has now found to have more than twenty times the toxic levels of lead poison in his body!’

‘Even today, both were unable to walk to the courtroom and had to wait outside while the case went on. In spite of all these, the court has once again allowed the government to kill these innocent people by installments via unnecessary delays,’ said Yola.
Despite its importance, the delay in the case with Sheikh’s deteriorating health might not be the only pressing issue regarding him at the moment. There is a chance that an ultimate ruling by the court allowing him to leave the country for treatment may not be implemented at all.

The fact that a 2016 ruling by the Federal High Court in Abuja that ordering the release of the Sheikh and his wife within 45 days was disregarded by the Nigerian government leaves little hope for a future verdict allowing his international travel for medical purposes to be put into effect.

Justice delayed, as they say, is justice denied.

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Sheikh Zakzaky in dire health condition: report

reporter 1222 — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 05:11:02 +0000

The leader of Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), who has been held in detention since December 2015 following a deadly raid by the Nigerian army troops on his residence in the country’s northern Kaduna State is unwell, according to the announcement of his medical team.

“Lead and cadmium levels are high in his blood which is fatal,” the doctors say, “his liver is also damaged.”

Some say that the elements found in his blood may be due to the poisoned food he has consumed while some believe that lead and cadmium are in his blood since lead shrapnells have been in his body from the time he was in prison and the Nigerian government did not allow any medical treatments for their removal.

Sheikh Zakzaky, who is in his mid-sixties, lost his left eyesight in the said raid. His wife also sustained serious wounds while more than 300 of his followers and three of his sons were killed in the violence.

The cleric has been kept in custody along his wife and a large number of his followers ever since.

Back in 2016, Nigeria’s federal high court ordered his unconditional release from jail following a trial but the government has so far refused to set him free.

Zakzaky’s legal team has long called for his release, saying he is suffering from health issues that require urgent medical care abroad but the state high court in Kaduna has denied the request.

A group of medical experts and consultants, who conducted health assessments on Zakzaky and his wife earlier this month, suggested that the two need to be taken abroad without further delay for treatments.

The cleric and his wife were unable to attend a court hearing back in March this year, due to dire health conditions, according to their lawyer Femi Falana SAN.

“My clients are yet to access any form of medical attention even after the court had ordered so,” he said, referring to a court order on January 22 to avail the cleric and his wife access to medical care.

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Nigeria’s Intelligence Agencies Orchestrating Plot to Kill Sheikh Zakzaky

reporter 1222 — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 08:05:41 +0000

Intelligence agencies in Nigeria are orchestrating a plot to kill top Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the IMN exposed a plan by security agencies in Nigeria to kill Sheikh Zakzaky while in his detention facility, the official website of IMN reported.

It added that the plot to kill Sheikh Zakzaky emanated from an exposed letter – titled ‘Plans by Islamic Movement in Nigeria to raid selected detention facilities in the country during the 2019 general election’ – sent to the office of the Inspector General of Police from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

The IMN statement, signed by S. I. Shuaib on behalf of the Academic Forum of the IMN, said “on January 25, 2019, the office of National Security Adviser, wrote a letter to the Inspector General of Police, telling him some concocted lies that the Islamic Movement is planning to attack some selected detention facilities in the country during the 2019 general election.”

The IMN said in its statement that the army wants to stage the attacks via a fake Shiite Muslim group against some detention centers including where they are keeping the prime target, Sheikh Zakzaky.

“That will give them the chance to frame a story that Shiites attempted to forcefully free Sheikh Zakzaky and others, so there was an exchange of fire, and as a result they shot their leader,” the statement said.

The IMN stressed that it has always abided by law and will continue to do so, adding it will only follow legal ways to secure Zakzaky’s release.

The statement said all Nigerians and the rest of the world know that the Islamic movement is not armed, adding “this plot will fail.”

It also pointed to the killings of hundreds of IMN supporters by the army in 2015, and said at that time, the movement only filed a lawsuit against the perpetrators and never used violence.

Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, has been held in detention since December 2015 and was charged just in April 2018 with murder, culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disruption of public peace and other accusations. He has pleaded not guilty.

In 2016, Nigeria’s federal high court ordered his unconditional release from jail following a trial, but the government has so far refused to set him free.

The top cleric, who is in his mid-sixties, lost his left eyesight in a raid which was carried out by the Nigerian army on his residence in the northern town of Zaria in December 2015.

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