AFIMN: Release Our Leader Unconditionally

By Abdulmumin Giwa

Following a nationwide program, the Academic Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, AFIMN has staged a peaceful rally in Kaduna calling for the release of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.

Addressing newsmen at the rally, Aisha Yunus described the continued arrest of the leader of the movement as illegal and a violation of his fundamental human rights.

It would be recalled that the Nigerian Army launched an attack on the Islamic movement in Zaria on 12^th to 14th of December last year in which several members of the movement were killed and several others abducted by the Army.

The Human Rights Watch, HRW said over three hundred members of the movement were killed in the pogrom which it described as excessive use of strength by the military.

The leader of the Movement Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, who was shot severally during the attack, was also abducted and detained by the military and his house and Islamic centers razed to the ground.

The rally took place at the Leventis Roundabout in Kaduna metropolis at about 12:00 pm today where students from various institutions, who are also members of the movement raised posters with pictures of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and the inscription “Free Zakzaky”.

Aisha added that there are hundreds of students that have been missing since the Zaria pogrom that are either killed and buried in mass graves by the Nigerian Army or are lavishing in illegal detention across the country.

She called for their immediate and unconditional release and reinstatement of their fundamental human rights.

The AFIMN in a press statement signed by Abdullahi Ibrahim, one of the organizers of the rally called for the release of the leader of the Movement Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, his wife, Zeenat Ibrahim and other members of the movement.

They also called on the government to hand over the corpses of the members to the movement for a befitting burial according to Islamic rights.

Just as the Forum was concluding the rally, the presence of security personnel was noticed although there was no tension as a result.

ANOTHER MEMBER OF IMN WHO DIED IN PRISON BURIED TODAY

By Abdulmumin Giwa

“Today, another brother of the Islamic Movement, among those awaiting trial in Kaduna prison was buried in Tudun wada Kaduna cemetery, exactly 3 month after he died of gun shots he sustained during the Nigerian army’s attack in Zaria last December.”

This is made public by the president of the Media Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim Musa on his facebook wall today.

He said, “Abbas Ishaq, 49, was arrested in Sheikh Zakzaky’s house and died two weeks after he and other 200 brothers of the Islamic Movement were detained in Kaduna central prison.”

“After much persuasion, the Hospital where his corpse was stored released him for proper Islamic burial today” he added.

He further explained that the cause of death was due to negligence by the prison’s authorities who denied him access to medical care.

“Doctors of the Islamic Movement confirmed that he was unattended to by the prison authorities when he was in prison, a situation that led to his death.”

Abbas, who is a native of Danja in Katsina state, but lived in Kawo Kaduna, was survived by a wife and a child.

Ibrahim Musa further explained that there is still another corpse with the authorities that has also suffered the same faith that is yet to be released.

He said, “there is still another corpse yet to be released to the Islamic Movement for burial. It is that of Idris Khalid. Efforts are still going on for its release for burial.”

“Abbas is the only person released by the authorities for Islamic burials, even though there are over a thousand unarmed people gunned down by the military during the Zaria massacre” he added.

Photo: Mal. Aliyu Tirmizy leading the funeral prayers of Abbas

This Day Editorial on 30-03-16

ACCESS TO SHEIKH EL-ZAKZAKY

March 30, 2016

All parties in the conflict should be given fair hearing

Early last week, there was a mild drama at the resumed sitting of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up to probe the clash between the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), also known as the Shiite sect, and the Nigerian Army last year in Zaria, Kaduna State. Members of the Islamic Movement insisted they would not submit any memorandum to the commission unless the Department of State Security (DSS) granted them access to their detained leader, Shiekh El-Zakzaky, who has been held incommunicado since December last year.

This was against the backdrop that the legal counsel to the group had repeatedly complained of how several efforts by him and others to meet with El-Zakzaky were frustrated by the DSS on the grounds of national security. There is merit in the argument of the Shiites.

In January, the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai announced the composition of the commission of inquiry into the incident which claimed no fewer than 100 lives, according to most accounts. While the commission, made up of respectable people in the society, has started work, there has been a heated argument over the successful completion of its assignment in the absence of the central figure in the crisis. El-Zakzaky remains in the protective custody of DSS without the benefit of interaction with some of his followers who are being invited to give testimony.

National security, which the DSS gave as its reason for not allowing members of the group have access to El-Zakzaky, is a weak excuse for denying the Shiite leader his fundamental rights to fair treatment. That excuse becomes even more untenable in the light of a haunting photograph recently published in an online media outlet indicating that the Shiite cleric was not in the best of health.

Despite the scrawny excuse the DSS recently gave, we share the misgivings of the Shiites. Moreover, given the international interest in the matter, we do not believe that the Nigerian authorities have handled the issue very well. For fairness and equity, members of the group and their lawyers should be allowed to consult with their leader before presenting their position to the panel. After all, the mission of the panel is to find a lasting solution to the recurring clashes between the members of the sect and the larger society.

We think El-Zakzaky has a key role to play in this regard.
The deep suspicion of the Shiites that the government (both in Kaduna and at the federal level) would not allow for a transparent investigation of the tragedy should be proved wrong. While many fine points of the bloody incident are still vague, it is necessary that all sides, especially the government and the DSS, refrain from actions that can only compound the situation. Already, there is huge apprehension that given the pronouncements of key actors in government, including President Muhammadu Buhari, the panel would not be fair to the Shiite members. Such apprehension must be quickly allayed.

To ensure justice, all parties to the conflict must be given fair hearing, without any threat of coercion and intimidation. At the end of the day, anyone or group found liable for the violence must be brought to justice. But that cannot be done in an atmosphere where one party already feels it has been found guilty even before the commencement of the investigation. We believe that the demand of the Shiites that they be allowed to see their leader, wherever he is, is not unreasonable in the circumstance.

PRESS RELEASE: IMPENDING MILITARY POGROM IN KATSINA STATE

Reports from Katsina today have indicated that the Nigerian army is amassing troops in an attempt at a clampdown on the Islamic Movement in the town.

Early in the morning armed troops were seen surrounding the main Juma’at mosque, where a peaceful maulud procession of the daughter of the Prophet, Nana Fatima (AS) was scheduled to take off. Seeing this and due to the peaceful disposition of the Islamic Movement, the take-off venue of this yearly event was changed to another neighbourhood of the town, and the procession went round some major streets of the town and ended without any incident.

However to our consternation, reinforcement was brought from neighbouring formations of the army, and roadblocks were mounted on almost all the major roads leading to Katsina city. We have been reliably informed that the army is set to replicate the wanton destruction of lives and properties it carried out in Zaria last December. The army it seems has vowed to attack the Markaz Islamic centre in the town any moment from now, possibly kill all its occupants and raze it to ground just as it did to Husainiyya Islamic centre in Zaria.

The Islamic Movement is amazed at what happened to our fundamental constitutional right to peaceful assembly and practice of religion in a democratic setting. This maulud procession is a yearly event that has been going on in several cities across the Nation for decades without any incident, like so many of our educational programs. Why we should be the subject of brutal attack by the authorities is mind boggling.

We are of the view that there is a ‘jihadi’ element in the Nigerian army that wants to hide under the cloak of our secular national army to achieve the clandestine aim of wiping out members of the Islamic Movement all over the federation. If that is the case, they should come out in the open and declare their intentions, since the Nigerian army we know is forbidden to do the bidding of any religious agenda.

Also reports reaching us from Kebbi state have confirmed to us that security agencies in various local governments of the state have ordered members of the Islamic Movement to stop any educational program they are known to engage in. The report states that any attempt to disregard what was said to be an order from the Federal government, would be met with ruthless clamp down. In fact, about ten members of the Islamic Movement are presently facing prosecution simply for attending an educational session in a mosque in Birnin Kebbi. Wither freedom of religion in this country?

The Islamic Movement therefore enjoins fellow citizens to call the federal government to order. Rather than pursue a religious agenda, specifically a Saudi-wahabbi sponsored agenda to kill whom they label Shiites, the federal government should devise means of relieving the masses that voted it into power the myriads of the day to day hardship they encounter in their lives.

Even as we keep watch of events by the army in Katsina and other places, we wish to reiterate our demand of immediate release of our leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqoub Zakzaky and other brothers and sisters of the Islamic movement held incommunicado for close to the past four months. They did no wrong; hence they should be set free unconditionally.

SIGNED BY

Court Denies Under-aged, sick consideration for bail

By Abdulmumin Giwa

Following the sitting at the Kaduna Magistrate Court today in the case filed against members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN otherwise called the Shi’ite movement, some aspects of the case are moving to the High Court for lack of jurisdiction at the lower court.

Some of the First Information Reports presented before the Kaduna Magistrate against members of the movement include possession of dangerous weapons and attempt to commit culpable homicide both of which are beyond the jurisdiction of the court.

The case which took place inside the Kaduna Prison, where pressmen were disallowed entry was headed by the Magistrate Court Judge Awwal Musa, was further adjourned to the 26^th of April 2016 as counsels to the IMN await a notice for mention on the case at the High Court.

Counsel to the state government Barrister Abdullahi Bayero told newsmen that the court has accepted the bail demand filed before it for the sick and under-aged members of the IMN currently being held in Kaduna Prison by their lawyers.

He stated that it is a violation of their right for the sick and under-aged to be held in prison insisting that they are going to be released immediately.

But the lead counsel to the Islamic Movement Barrister Hussaini Ibrahim said the court is yet to consider releasing the sick and the under-aged members of the Movement being held in prison. He however stated that his team has been asked to formalize their demand for their release.

Formalizing the demand for the release of the seriously sick Shi’ites, despite confirmation by the prison’s medical officer, requires getting medical certificates and confirmations from government medical personnel, while the release of the under-aged would require signing of affidavits and other references.

Meanwhile there are members of the Movement being held in prison without any charges against them by the plaintiffs.

Earlier the case was adjourned to this date when the Nigerian Army could not present the said weapons they confiscated from members of the movement saying the weapons were taken to Lagos for forensic investigations.

Though the weapons were not presented before the court today, they were said to have been handed over to the Nigerian police by the Army.

End.

 

 

 

Press statement: WE REJECT ANY KIDNAP IN OUR NAME

Our attention has been drawn to a false, unsubstantiated and mischievous claim, that looks more like a planned operation aimed at painting the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) black, of some “intelligence” report that the IMN may plan kidnap of military officers for ransom for the release of our revered leader, His Eminence Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.

Typically, this was followed by the alleged kidnap of an Army officer in Kaduna with the Nigerian Army issuing statement calling on the public to give information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators. Soon, some media outlets were quick to quote these malicious sources linking the IMN with the alleged kidnap.

It is obvious that the government and its Army are going further with their plans of campaign of calumny and false propaganda against the Movement ranging from smear documentaries on Television networks, advertorials in daily newspapers, sponsoring fake non-governmental organizations and engagement of some very dubious characters to malign the IMN and its leadership, to engaging in organized crimes and attributing same to the Movement.

We wish to categorically state here that the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the leadership of His Eminence, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky has never, is not and will never engage in any form of crime to meet any of its objectives. Crime and criminal activities are fundamentally sinful and are not in our character.

The Islamic Movement knows that due to official administrative ineptitude and official negligence of constituted authority, a lot of crimes including kidnapping are prevalent in the country. As a religious body, the IMN condemns and preaches against all forms of crime. Therefore, it is virtually illogical and unreasonable for anyone to presume that the IMN would turn around to engage in such acts of immorality. The IMN is a peaceful mass Movement, with enlightened and responsible members. For close to four decades now, it has conducted its activities in the most civilized manner and cannot in any way be derailed from that golden track record. IMN will therefore never be lured or diverted into any form of crime or violence.

We are forced to believe that the government and its Army are resorting to these vicious campaigns in desperation. They wish not only to bury their crimes against humanity, but also to justify the bestiality they meted on the innocent unarmed members of the Movement between 12th and 14th of December 2015, including burning IMN members alive, sexual mutilation and harassment of women, as well as abduction and illegal detention of members including the leader of the Movement, besides killing over 1000 unarmed citizens.

IMN has followed due processes in dealing with this injustice by the government on its members and leader. It is pertinent to reiterate that this will be sustained. This peaceful campaign for justice and fairness using lawful means of seeking redress will not be distracted. This should be clear from the way IMN handled the Commission of Inquiry set up by the Kaduna state government, making things public at every stage. The same can be said in the way it took its campaign and case before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

Finally, we would like to use this platform to echo our call on the government and its Army to own up to their crimes and release the revered leader of the Movement Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and other members unconditionally.

Sign

Ibrahim Musa

President

Media Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria

0805 078 6390

28-03-16

Zaria Kidnap: Another False Flag Operation Unfolding Against The IMN

By Harun Elbinawi

“A very reliable source from the Presidency just confirmed that there was an Intelligence Report since last week that the El Zakzaky people vowed to Kidnap military officers to negotiate as ransom for the release of their leader purported to be under military custody. The source further confirmed that the Intelligence Officer in the Depot NA Zaria is aware of the report since last week. Everyone needs to be extra careful especially those in Kaduna and Abuja metropolis.”

And we also got this announcement today from the Nigerian military authorities:

“Col S Inusa (44 RC) was abducted around NNPC junction. The abductors dropped off his wife and left with him in his car. The car headed towards Abuja. Anybody with useful info or assistance should please assist in tracking these abductors. They are in a Mercedes Benz GLK black colour with registration number Abuja, KUJ 154 TZ.

The incident happened yesterday evening ( Saturday 26 Mar 2016) at NNPC junction, Kaduna.”

The question is why will IMN “kidnap military officers to negotiate as ransom for the release of their leader purported to be under military custody”? And after Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky is released after this negotiations which country will he be staying?

The IMN under the leadership of His Eminence Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky has never engaged in criminal activities such as kidnapping or abduction or anything related to that and strongly condemned such criminal activities done under any pretext.

Since after the brutal Zaria Massacre by the Nigerian Army that killed close to one thousand defenseless & unarmed Nigerians in Zaria, the Nigerian government launched a smear campaign of calumny and demonization against IMN and its leadership with the sole intention of justifying the brutal massacre and portraying the peaceful IMN as “criminal & terrorist organization”.

After the Agatu killings in Benue State, the Nigerian government sponsored a faceless group to blame IMN of those atrocities and senseless killings. But fortunately enough Nigerians refused to buy that monumental fraud because they know the history of the conflict between the Fulani nomads and the host farmers.

Nigerians are well aware of the rampancy of the cases of kidnappings in Nigeria for monetary ransom and the gross failure of the Nigerian authorities to eradicate it. There are mounting security challenges facing Nigeria such as the Boko Haram insurgency, kidnappings, Oil bunkering, human trafficking, human organ trafficking etc but unfortunately what presently occupy the minds of our Nigerian oppressors is how to frame and demonize the peaceful Islamic Movement in Nigeria ( IMN ).

Instead of the Nigerian government to concentrate on how to tackle these security challenges, the government is trying to bury what is undoubtedly a brutal war crime and by extension demonizing the victims of its brutal massacre. The present Nigerian government that is executing a foreign sponsored imperialist agenda by these actions is insensitive to the deteriorating economic and social conditions of Nigerians and is displaying nonchalant attitude to the present extreme sufferings of Nigerians.

Finally, it is our hope that Col S Inusa and all those Nigerians kidnapped and abducted be freed and safely returned to their families. Kidnapping innocent Nigerians is a heinous crime that must be condemned by all.

 

What they wish we are?

Abdulmumin Giwa

One thing i have come to observe is that mischief makers in the name of preaching spread calumny and lies against Shi’ism and Shi’ites, of course they are paid to. What they say about the Shi’ites are manufactured lies which they also want to force on the Shi’ites. They want to force the Shi’ites to accept what they say as true.
The gullible-minded third-party who have no idea what Shi’ism is get information about the faith from the mischief makers and continue to make noise about it due to their narrow mindedness. They don’t listen to or seek information directly from Shi’ites but they claim they know them based on what the mischief makers say about Shi’ism.
The reality is that they are not interested at all in hearing what the Shi’ites say because they have been brainwashed, deceived and misdirected.
If they say Shi’ites are armed they want the Shi’ites to say they are, If they say shi’ites are abusing the Sahaba, they want the Shi’ites to say they are. If they say Shi’ites are violent they want Shi’ites to say they are. None of them is willing to know what the Shi’ites really are. None of them goes to ask what Shi’ism really is from the Shi’ites themselves. Its like to them, Shi’ism is their wishful thinking and not a faith. It only sums up to a euphoria.
As a result of this mischief, they have turned themselves into fault-finders all they want to see is the bad things and where there are non they create them. They don’t want to hear anything good from the Shi’ites. I don’t know whether this is what they call justice and fairness in their religion.

Where is the arrogance?

Abdulmumin Giwa
After a field day of display of strength and arrogance killing and killing and killing for over 30 hours the Nigerian government and its Army that did its dirty job is now investing hard to convince the world that they are not guilty. They are now seeking to justify their crime against humanity by all means.
Using a Kangaroo Commission set with the sole intention of indicting the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, they now disgracefully want the world to believe that it was not a massacre but a clash and to support that they describe the Islamic Movement members as “Shi’ite militants”. This is to give a picture that they fought with an armed group to justify why they used heavy arms on the Shi’ites.
They have forgotten that the Sultan of Sokoto, the Emir of Kano and the Human Rights Watch have all condemned the Army for using excessive strength on unarmed civilians and that the army had earlier told the world that the Shi’ites were not armed.
This is a display of cowardice and the peak of hypocrisy by the government and it’s Army. Why not own up to your crime instead of the blatant lies, what are you afraid of? After all it was just a crime against humanity which your level of arrogance should own up to. If actually what you did was right you should own up and prove that you are right and not to manufacture lies to save your heads.
One thing you seem to be forgetting is that it is God that you are fighting with in disguise. I don’t know how you can lie to God or even what you take God for. How can you massacre human beings and think you can just bury it and go free?
At the time of the killing spree you displayed every level of arrogance and inhumanity, terrorizing people and killing them like ants without differentiating their sexes and ages. Shamefully today you have turned into cowards looking for every possible way to clear your mess. A very big shame on you.
You should understand that the more you manufacture lies the more you disgrace yourselves. I thought as soldiers of Nigeria you will turn up at the commission and tell them that you killed the Shi’ites, burnt them alive, molested their women by shooting them on the private parts after raping them and stabbed them on the breasts with bayonets and owe no apology to anyone as you acted according to your rules of engagement. This is what we expect from you at your level of egocentrism.
Unfortunately now, cowardice has taken over from the initial arrogance. Oh dear, how shameful. The more lies you will manufacture will be the more you will disgrace yourself. You plan and Allah plans and Allah is the best of planners.
Today you can draw maps, designs lies and identify the Islamic Movement with fake terminologies to convince a kangaroo Commission that you acted rightly but you will not have the chance to do that before God Almighty tomorrow when you meet Him.
Know that the Zaria pogrom is an incident which even if you succeed in deceiving the public by feeding them with lies through the Commission, you will never succeed in convincing God your creator to whom you are going to answer when you are too helpless to manufacture any lies in the hereafter. That is if at all you believe in the existence of God and His forthcoming judgment.

 

Re:Extremism: Summit advocates travel ban on Iran

March 23, 2016 Uncategorized

My attention was drawn to the above news item in the Vanguard Newspaper of 23/03/2016 and the first thing that I did was to go to the website of the group that organized the summit “Coalition of Civil Society Organizations on Human Rights and Interfaith Religious Organizations for Peace” and check their past activities.

What I saw shocked me as this group do not have any past activities, the message I saw under “Past Activities” was “Page under construction please check again”.

This means that this group is a sponsored faceless mushroom group that do not have any past activities to show and was used as a platform to stage this sponsored “summit” by those who masterminded and perpetrated the brutal ‪#‎Zaria_Massacre‬ that killed close to one thousand defenseless & unarmed Nigerians in Zaria and buried them in mass graves to bury the evidences. This is the fourth group so far sponsored by the Nigerian government since after the brutal
#Zaria_Massacre in its smear campaigns of calumny and demonization against the peaceful Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) under the leadership of His Eminence Sheikh Ibraheem ‪#‎Zakzaky‬.

It is important to note that all the so-called “Resource persons” of this “summit” were Christians and that was deliberately done to make it look like the smear campaigns of calumny against ‪#‎IMN‬ has a “national spread”. If for example Wahhabi speakers asked the Nigerian government to impose travel ban on ‪#‎Iran‬, that will be very glaring to Nigerians so the war criminals who perpetrated the brutal slaughter in Zaria decided to use Christians of questionable characters to stage the sponsored “summit”.

The first “Resource person”, Mr. Ayokunle Fagbemi, is a drifter that do not have any past history of defending human rights or organizing any Interfaith Religious dialogue in Nigeria. And the second “Resource person”

Udenta O. Udenta was the director of communication and strategy of the notorious and much hated Jonathan– sponsored Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) that all Nigerians knew was a monumental fraud.
Udenta O. Udenta who is jobless presently will need such venture like sponsored “summit” to get some fast money.

One of the “Resource person” Mr. Ayokunle Fagbemi said: “Thankfully, the Chief of Army Staff was of the same faith as the Shiites, the trouble would have been difficult. No group on its own would accept (admit) extremism on its own.” The Northern civilian – military cabal that executed the brutal #Zaria_Massacre are mostly die-hard Wahhabis/Salafis who have a global genocidal agenda against Shia Muslims. And if we consider ‪#‎AlQaeda‬ as the version 1.0 then ‪#‎ISIS‬ is version 2.0 then the brutal Zaria massacre by the Nigerian Army is version 3.0 as the extreme savagery and barbarism displayed by the Nigerian Army far exceeded the crimes and atrocities of these mentioned murderous terrorist groups.

It was in the communiqué issued at the end of the sponsored “summit” that they advocated travel ban on Iran so as to prevent Nigerians from studying in Iranian institutions and seminary schools. The history of Iranian seminary institutions where Scholars are groomed is glorious and do not have a single record of producing violent terrorists. There are students from more than 120 countries of the world that are currently undergoing various courses in those schools.

Finally, the organizers behind this “summit” are the same with the organizers of the three past anti-IMN campaingns and they have one goal which is they want Nigerians to forget that they slaughtered close to one thousand defenseless Nigerians in Zaria and buried them in mass graves to serve an evil foreign agenda that will never benefit the Nigerian nation. And they want to make Iran as a scapegoat to their crimes of genocide against the peaceful Nigerian Shia Muslims.

‪#‎FreeZakzaky‬
‪#‎GodProtectZakzaky‬
Via:Elbinawi