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How much pressure does Nigeria need to release Zakzaky?

Protesters march to demand the release of Shia cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, in Kano, Nigeria, January 9, 2016.

Nigeria continues to stand widely condemned for having brutally massacred members of a religious minority. Reports suggest that the Nigerian army massacred over a thousand Shias.

The Shia Islamic Movement of Nigeria is still under siege. Its leader Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky has been missing since December 2015. Human rights groups say the government’s allegations against him are bizarre. An advocate of human rights and religious freedoms, the senior cleric is claimed by the government of having incited public unrest.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has been failing to deal with a group that is practicing violence – Boko Haram, a Saudi-influenced Takfiri movement that condemns Shias as heretics.

The UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission is concerned that Nigerian killing of Shias continues under the pretext of hunting Boko Haram. Although mass protests have called for Sheikh Zakzaky to be released, Nigeria hasn’t budged. Africa Today discusses all the elements at play and asks what it might take for Nigeria's government to release Sheikh Zakzaky.


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