Islamic Human Rights Commission protests in London

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has staged a protest in London where President Muhammadu Buhari is currently attending an anti-corruption summit. According to Sahara Reporters, the aim of the protest that was staged on Thursday, May 12, was to call the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Zaria massacre, in which at least 350 Shi’ite Muslims were killed by the Nigerian army. Members of the IHRC also protested against the unlawful detention of Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN). The bloody clash that took place in Zaria, Kaduna state, began when IMN supporters blocked a road in order to prevent a military convoy from passing through. However, the military claimed that the Shi’ites had attempted to assassinate Tukur Buratai, the chief of army staff. Following this incident, soldiers surrounded other locations where members of the IMN were gathered, including the residents of Sheikh El-Zakzaky, and began to fire indiscriminately upon them. The IMN leader was then detained and brutally beaten by soldiers. According to a Kaduna state government official, 347 bodies of Shi’ites were recovered from a local hospital mortuary and taken to a field near Mando where they were discreetly buried. However, the IMN believes that hundreds of other members have been killed and buried by the Nigerian army, bringing the potential death toll to over 800. Although the Kaduna state government established a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the incident, no concrete steps have been taken so far to bring the perpetrators of the massacre to book. The IHRC is hoping that its protest will pressure the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerian military to thoroughly investigate the matter and bring justice to the families of the victims.