Wednesday, April 6, 2016

NEWS: Falana visits El-Zakzaky in solitary confinement

– Femi Falana met with El-Zakzaky where he his being held by security operatives

 – The religious cleric is reportedly blinded in on eye

 – Falana gives ultimatum for his release

Mr Fami Falana, a human rights activist and foremost
lawyer met with Sheikh Ibraheem Elzakzaky who is the leader of the Shiite sect in Nigeria months after he has been kept in solitary confinement.

Ibraheem-El-Zakzaky
Ibraheem Elzakzaky

Vanguard reports that Falana met El-zakzaky in a detention facility on Friday, April 1 in Abuja months after the cleric was denied access to lawyers and members of Islamic Movement of Nigeria.

Falana alongside Maxwell Nkiyom and Kabir Muhammad who have been retained as lawyers for the Islamic Movement of Nigeria and a member of the movement, Sheikh AbdulRahman Abubakar Yola met the leader of the Shiite sect who has reportedly been blinded in one eye due to injuries he sustained following his brutal arrest by security operatives.

 El-Zakzaky was apprehended alongside his wife following a bloody altercation between security operatives and members of the sect which also led to the death of hundreds of Shiites in December 2015.

 El-Zakzaky was afterwards flown to France for treatment for injuries sustained during his arrest and was subsequently returned to the country and detained.

 The Kaduna state government set up a judicial panel of inquiry to look into the issue but the religious sect did not honour it on the basis that they would not get a fair hearing. This left the federal government with no choice but to allow lawyers meet with him. The meeting lasted for an hour.

In a letter made public on Wednesday, April 6, Falana gave security operatives 24 hours to release El-Zakzaky.

Falana said: “Even though our clients have not been told that they breached any law, they have been denied access to their lawyers, personal physicians, and family members for over three months.

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