Zakzaky Supporters Demand Release of Top Cleric

The rally was organized in the Garki district of the capital, according to news media.

The demonstrators carried placards and banners calling for the government to release the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) and his wife immediately and unconditionally.

In recent months, Zakzaky’s daughter Suheila Zakzaky has warned that her parents’ health has been deteriorating due to medical negligence.

Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife Mallima Zeenah have been detained and are being tried for culpable homicide for allegedly being responsible for ordering violence that resulted in the deaths of a member of the security forces during a massacre by armed forces of supporters of the IMN in Zaria in December 2015.

However, despite the fact that over 1000 innocent supporters of the IMN were butchered in the attack, not a single official has been charged or brought to trial over the killings.

The massacre is currently the subject of a preliminary investigation by the International Criminal Court.

In 2016, Nigeria’s federal high court ordered Zakzaky’s unconditional release from jail following a trial, but the government has so far refused to set him free.