Falana demands release of El-Zakzaky, writes Osinbajo

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has written to acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, demanding the release of the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, otherwise called Shi’ites, Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, and the cleric’s wife, Zeinab, from illegal custody.

In addition to the demand for the release of the couple, Falana also urged Osinbajo to “direct the Nigerian Army to investigate and prosecute the military personnel responsible for the brutal and callous massacre of the 347 members of the Shia Community at Zaria in December 2015.”

He also demanded, in his letter dated June 2, 2017 and addressed to Osinbajo, the release of a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) from illegal detention.

Falana was the lawyer to El-Zakzaky and the cleric’s wife in their suit in which they obtained a December 2, 2016 judgment which ordered the release of the couple within 45 days.

In addition to the order for the release of the couple, the judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, had also ordered the Federal Government to provide them with accommodation, their residence having been allegedly burnt down by the army and the Kaduna State Government.

The court had also awarded N50m as compensation for the illegal arrest and detention of the couple.

The judgment was ignored by both the Department of State Services and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), who were both respondents to the suit.

Falana told Osinbajo that apart from the DSS flouting the court order, El-Zakzaky had lost his right eye and could lose the second owing to lack of medical care in detention.

He added that in order to keep the couple incommunicado in custody, the authorities of the DSS had barred the detainees’ lawyers from seeing them.

Falana stated in his letter to the acting President that during the clash, the army “unleashed unmitigated violence on the Shia Community in Zaria”, and in the process, “massacred 347 Shi’ites including women and children.”

“Aided by the Kaduna State Government, the Nigerian Army secretly buried the dead bodies of the victims of the barbaric attack in an unmarked grave without any autopsy whatsoever,” Falana stated.

He said, although, El-Zakzaky was not at the scene of the attack by the soldiers, “the official assailants invaded his residence at Zaria, set the house ablaze, shot at him and his wife and killed three of his children.”

The senior lawyer stated, “Thereafter, the Kaduna State Government proceeded to demolish the burnt house and thereby rendered all the occupants homeless.

“While Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his wife were soaked in their own blood, they were handed over by the army to the Department of State Services which took them to a detention centre in Abuja where they have since been detained without any trial.