Nigeria treatment of Zakzaky outrageous: Pundit

Press TV has interviewed Massoud Shadjareh, Islamic Human Rights Commission from London, on the fate of prominent Nigerian Shia cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky after being attacked by military forces of the African country.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Talking about the situation of Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, he remains currently in a state of limbo, so to say, where he’s not been charged with anything formal, yet he’s also not been released. Talk to us more about what’s going on!

Shadjareh: Well, it’s a very strange situation for him to be, the fact of the matter is that, as you said, he’s not been charged, he’s not released, he’s not even [been] accused of any particular crime.

The reality is that he’s been shot four times in the process two months ago and there are 700 people missing, his wife was shot twice and really we are getting no access to any of these people.

We know number of people who are actually being held, but we have no access to them, lawyers have got no access to them. We tried to get access. The lawyers have been pushing forward for having access to their clients.

Zakzaky has not been seen except by one team, which included a professor and really this is outrageous. It’s outrageous because of the fact that there are 700 people missing, many of them presumed dead, and there are hundreds who have died.

And really we are seeing no due process whatsoever and we don’t even know who is holding Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife. We don’t know if it’s the military, if it’s the police or is the intelligence services.

There are some rumors that he is being held by intelligence services, which is outrageous. I mean if someone has committed a crime then let us go through the due process and if they haven’t which is very clearly he hasn’t then they should be released.

And this is totally unacceptable and this is why we are seeing almost weekly demonstrations right across Nigeria, the most recent was yesterday in 15 cities by women of the Islamic movement going out and in thousands and demonstrating to bring some sort of due process and some sanity to this whole situation.

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