The United States has classified the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenah, as political prisoners.
This is according to the 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices issued by the US State Department on Tuesday.
The report read in part, “Political prisoners and detainees. IMN’s leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, and his spouse remained in detention. In 2018 the Kaduna State Government charged Zakzaky in state court with multiple felonies stemming from the death of a soldier at Zaria.”
The Islamic cleric was arrested in December 2015 after soldiers clamped down on his supporters, killing at least 347 of them, including his children. The army accused them of blocking a public road being used then by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai.
He was detained without trial for several months without trial causing his lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), to file a suit before a Federal High Court in Abuja.