Nigeria Shiite spokesman: Wounded members dying in detention

Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, the movement’s leader, has always ruled out any resort to violence, said the analyst, adding that the Islamic Movement of Nigeria has been against corruption and injustice.

His allegations come as the guardian of Nigeria’s Muslims, Sultan Muhammad Saad Abubakar of Sokoto, warned the government against actions that could radicalise other Muslims in a country that already has lost 20,000 lives to the Boko Haram uprising.

Boko Haram re-emerged as a much more violent entity after security forces attacked their mosque and compound and killed some 700 people in 2009.

According to a report released by the official website of IMN on Sunday, the Nigerian troops bulldozed Hussainiyyah Baqeeyatullah in the northern city of Zaria in Kaduna State. He said they believe at least 40 wounded members are detained without medical care.

The petition follows the brazen attack on the Chief of Army Staff and his entourage by members of the Shiite sect under the leadership of Ibrahim Yaqoub Elzak zakky in Zaria.

The Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai, yesterday disclosed that the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, would be prosecuted for crimes he may have committed.

He said the Islamic Movement also wanted the immediate and unconditional release of the bodies of those that were killed, as well as those who are in detention.

Nigerian police say they acted to prevent an attack on a police station and only fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets of Tehran to condemn the killings of hundreds of Shiite Muslims in Nigeria and demanded the release of a Nigerian Shiite leader.