Nigerian army must be held to account: Activist

Press TV has interviewed Massoud Shadjareh, a member of the Islamic Human Rights Commission in London, to discuss the unknown fate of the Nigerian Shia leader Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky who has been arrested by Nigerian forces following deadly raids against Shia Muslims. 

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: What do we know about the Nigerian cleric’s well-being and why is the army not allowing the family of Sheikh Zakzaky to contact him?

Shadjareh: We know for the first 24 hours he was being kept in the bombed-out and burned-out house and being what now appears to be tortured without any access to any medical attention and then he was transferred to a barrack and then from there, and according to Nigerian armed forces, he was transferred to an army military hospital.

We have seen some horrifying photos which have been going around the way that he has been beaten up, being carried around in a wheelbarrow, etc. and really ever since this massacre…no one has been able to see Sheikh Zakzaky or his family, neither the Red Cross or any authorities or the family. And today late afternoon, the army announced that they are no longer holding him. So we want to know who is holding him, why is not possible...independently to assess his condition and if he is getting medical attention or not, because we are seeing in the history of Nigerian army that they leave people to bleed to death, and indeed today we had one person [who] died in custody because of the lack of medical attention and it is really worrying.

And just 10 minutes ago, we started getting rumors that there might be some sort of thugs movement attacking the Islamic Movement members tomorrow and the Emir of Kano has actually been very provocative on the radio against the Islamic Movement members, and we are worried that something is cooking up and these rumors if they [are true] are going to be extremely worrying and there will be a blood bath.

Press TV: More than 1,000 Shias have been killed in Zaria on that day, when the Nigerian army actually held a siege on Sheikh Zakzaky’s residence. We have also been seeing protest outside the Nigerian embassy in London and also in Tehran. What consequences await the Nigerian government if any further harm comes to the Shia leader?

Shadjareh: It really is outrageous because now we are in a position of very credible information, and I can go beyond that, of mass graves. We actually published one photograph of these mass graves and this is for the fact that they want to hide the number of people that they massacre, and really I think even 1,000 is a very low estimate because of these mass graves.

Really we need to hold Nigerian government and Nigerian army to account. Such an operation in sort of massacring people could not have happened without preparation and without knowledge of it going all the way up to the top. We are worried that this is continuing, because indeed we are not getting any assurances that how many people are being held, what condition they have got, what is happening to those who are being shot, and why we are seeing these mass graves by the army and what is the government doing about it?

This is actually outrageous for any government or any armed forces to behave against their own citizens…We really have to actually hold Nigeria accountable. I have just written a letter to the Commonwealth Secretariat requesting that Nigeria would be suspended from the Commonwealth until all these questions are answered.

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