Human right lawyer Femi Falana (SAN)
has demanded the unconditional release of leader of the Islamic Movement of
Nigeria (IMN) Sheik Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife, Hajia Zeenat Ibraheem from
unlawful detention
In an April 5 letter to the Director-General,
Department of State Services (DSS), Falana said his clients were denied access
to their family and doctors since their arrest.
Falana said last December 12,
thousands of armed soldiers allegedly unleashed violent attacks on IMN members
in Zaria, Kaduna State on the orders of the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur
Buratai who claimed that the unarmed civilians wanted to assassinate him.
The lawyer said although his clients
were not at the scene of the attack, the rampaging troops invaded their
residence at Wali Street, Zaria last December 14.
“The troops set the building ablaze
and killed three of our clients’ children in their presence and thereby
subjected them to untold mental agony.
“Thereafter, the armed soldiers shot
our clients several times. As a result of the brutal attack Sheik Zakzaky lost
his left eye while doctors are currently battling to save the right one.
“While in custody, both of them have
gone through many surgical operations to extract bullets from their bodies,”
Falana wrote.
To compound the physical pain and
mental anguish his clients were subject to, Falana said the police and the DSS
have held them incommunicado for over three months.
He recalled that during a similar
attack in 2014 allegedly by a detachment of the Army, three of Zakzaky’s
children were also killed without any lawful justification.
Falana said the report of the fact
finding Commission of Enquiry set up by the government was yet to be released,
while the military personnel who allegedly killed his clients’ children and
other unarmed civilians have not been brought to justice.
Some of the victims who survived the
deadly attacks, Falana said, have been charged with culpable homicide and
sundry offences by the Kaduna State Government.
“Notwithstanding that such
criminal charges are pending at the Kaduna High Court, the Kaduna State
Government has set up a judicial Commission of Enquiry to investigate the
same subject matter.
“Even though our clients have not
been told that they breached any law, they have been denied access to their
lawyers, personal physicians and family members for over three months.
“Our clients were only permitted to
meet with us last Friday after several requests made by us had been turned
without any legal basis.
“In the light of the foregoing, our
clients and members of the IMN have resolved not to participate in the
proceedings of the said Judicial Commission of Enquiry in any manner whatsoever
and howsoever.
“Finally, we hereby demand for the
immediate and unconditional release of our clients from illegal detention
within 24 hours of the receipt of this letter,” Falana said.
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