News / Nigeria

Not clear if Nigeria cleric alive: Son

Friday, 18 December 2015 2:40 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 18 December 2015 2:45 AM ]

Nigerian Shia leader Ibrahim al-Zakzaky

Ibrahim al-Zakzaky’s son says his family has not been able to contact the Nigerian Shia leader since his arrest by the country’s forces earlier in the week.

“We are concerned [Mr. Zakzaky may not be alive]. We want a doctor to speak to him who we can trust,” New York-based news agency Sahara Reporters, which tracks developments in Nigeria, cited the son as saying in a Thursday report.

The news agency also said that Zakzaky's family has not been able to speak to any officials who have had contact with the Shia cleric.

Nigerian forces raided the house of the head of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria in the country’s northern city of Zaria, in Kaduna state, on Sunday and arrested him after reportedly killing individuals attempting to protect him, including one of the movement’s senior leaders and its spokesman. According to media reports, dozens of people are believed to have been killed in the raid.

Britain-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said on Wednesday that there was credible evidence of mass graves in Nigeria following the Sunday massacre. The body, which put the toll at over 1,000, said that the Nigerian military had secretly buried hundreds of bodies in the graves after storming the house of the Shia leader.

Nigerian soldiers had opened fire on Shia Muslims attending a ceremony at a religious center in the city on Saturday. The Shias had reportedly stopped the convoy of Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai as Zakzaky was planning a speech in the religious center.