[ad_1]
Zakzaky and his wife have been detained since the clash in 2015, in which the army is said to have killed 350 people.
Defense and prosecution lawyers stated that the Nigerian court has acquitted the banned Shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) leader in all eight criminal charges.
Ibrahim el-Zakzaky has been detained since 2015 when he was arrested in a conflict when the army killed about 350 people in an IMN compound and nearby mosques and cemeteries in northern Kaduna State.
El-Zakzaky and his wife were also arrested in 2015. They faced a series of charges from the state government in 2018, including aiding and abetting murder, illegal assembly and disrupting public peace.
“None of the 15 prosecution witnesses proved that they committed a crime,” lawyer Sadau Garba told AFP after Wednesday’s hearing, adding that the couple had been acquitted and “freed today. “.
The continued detention of El-Zakzaky led to street protests in Nigeria and abroad [File: Dar Yasin/AP]Chief Prosecutor Dari Bayero confirmed that the two have been released, but said the state is planning to appeal.
“The court ruled that none of the witnesses we presented in court provided convincing evidence that the two were guilty,” Bayero said. “This doesn’t mean that they cannot be re-subpoenaed… We will definitely bring charges against the two on appeal.”
Judge Gideon Kurada ruled that there were no charges to answer and acquitted the two.
Shiites are a small part of Nigeria. About half of the population there are Muslims and the vast majority are Sunni.
‘Unremitting victory’
Ibrahim Musa, a spokesperson for the IMN, said the ruling was “a persistent victory in the face of extreme persecution.”
Supporters of El-Zakzaky in court said they feared that the police would arrest him again after his release.
The police and the Nigerian Attorney General have not yet commented on the court ruling.
At the same time, Amnesty International urged the Nigerian authorities to “immediately comply” with court orders.
In December 2015, when IMN members blocked the Army Chief of Staff’s convoy during a religious parade, the troops severely suppressed IMN.
Human rights groups said at the time that about 350 IMN members were killed in the two-day conflict and were later buried in mass graves.
The military initially denied these incidents and stated that a soldier was killed by Shia militants.
The continued detention of El-Zakzaky led to street protests in the country’s capital, Abuja, triggering violent clashes with security forces, resulting in dozens of deaths.
The Nigerian government officially declared the organization illegal in 2019.
In the same year, 100 arrested members were released in two batches after being acquitted by the court.
In February last year, another court released 87 other IMN members due to insufficient evidence.
[ad_2]
Source link