Intervene In El-Zakzaky’s Plight, Islamic Commission Begs AU

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) today beg the African Union (AU) to intervene in the case of the detained leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Nusaiba.

The rights commission made this known in a letter addressed to the leadership of the AU on Wednesday.

The letter noted that El-Zakzaky and his wife are been held in detention along with 167 members of the IMN following their arrest during a military assault against the Shi’ites in December 2015.

It also stated that the IMN leader and his wife are still been held in detention despite the order for the release of the couple set by a Federal High Court judge on December 2, 2016, which ruled that their incarceration was illegal and unconstitutional.

The IHRC blamed the Nigerian government for doing little or nothing to release El-Zakzaky and his wife from detention as it fears for the health of the leader of the IMN, disclosing that he has lost the use of an arm and an eye.

IHRC has previously written to the Nigerian president, Justice minister and Attorney General to try and secure the release of the couple without success.

The commission urged the African Union to intervene as it believes that only then can the unjust detaining of persons in Africa be resolved.