Nigerians Take to the Streets to Mark 500 Days of Sheikh Zakzaky’s Detention

They took to the streets of Abuja to mark the 500 days in detention of their leader.

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) on Wednesday, April 26, occupied the streets of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.

The protesters led by the former social media director of the Peoples Democratic Party and convener of the Concerned Nigerians Deji Adeyanju protested the prolonged detention of leader Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

The supporters in their hundred marched from the Unity Fountain in Abuja to the entrance of the Presidential Villa.

The prominent cleric and his wife were taken into custody on December 14, 2115, after deadly clashes between the supporters of the IMN movement and Nigerian troops.

Nearly 350 members of the Shia movement were killed in the clashes. The sheikh was brutally injured and his house was reportedly destroyed by the army in the incident.

The judge said he had given 45 days for authorities to provide new accommodation for the Zakzaky family. The accommodation is to be in the town of Zaria, Kaduna state, where the family were detained, or in other parts of the state or alternatively any other part of northern Nigeria.

Kolawole said the State Security Service would pay each of Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife $78,984 in compensation for the violation of their rights by being held in unlawful custody for nearly a year.

Nearly 100 IMN supporters were killed when Nigerian forces fired live rounds and tear gas at mourners during a peaceful march ahead of the Arbaeen mourning rituals, which mark 40 days after the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Shia Imam. Authorities also destroyed a number of buildings belonging to the IMN.

The Nigerian government has stepped up its crackdown on the IMN since the December 2015 deadly incident.