By AbdulRaheem Aodu
Kaduna
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) otherwise known as Shi’ites , yesterday said it has instituted a court action against the federal government at the International Criminal Court (ICC), The Hague, Netherlands, over what it described as “war crimes and genocide” against its members by the Nigerian military in Zaria, December last year.
Spokesman of the IMN, Malam Ibrahim Musa, told journalists in Kaduna that 100 days after their leader was shot and taken away with his wife and others, they were yet to see or hear from their leader, El-Zakzaky, despite several efforts by their team of lawyers, including Femi Falana (SAN) and Festus Okoye, which explained why he said they could not make their case at the judicial panel set up by
Kaduna state government.
According to the group’s spokesman, “Nigeria waged war against IMN to exterminate us in December last year, 100 days after the two-days of attack of our members in Zaria, unlawful detention of our hundreds of our members most of whom are students and civil servants and many of them with injuries, we are yet to see our leader, who was shot severally with his wife and taken away.
“Though we believe that Sheikh is alive, according to what we heard from the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs officials who met him, we have no idea about the state of health of our leader and his wife.
“Our team of lawyers, led by Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) based in London, has instituted legal action in ICC to enable the issue be seen as genocide by the Nigeria Army, as war crimes against human race. Over 1,000 members of IMN were bombarded and killed in two days; no single corpse has been handed over to us for burial.”
“Since the judicial commission of enquiry started sitting, we have been following it but without hearing from our leader and ascertaining his state of health, we cannot make any presentation to the commission.”
The IHRC, according to Musa, said in a statement that it had “called on the International Criminal Court to open a preliminary enquiry into the events in Zaria, last year. The International Criminal Court is being urged to investigate the massacre of nearly 1, 000 civilians in Nigeria last
December at the hands of the country’s armed forces.”
