Release 12 corpses of our members in your possession, IMN tells police

As the court has granted their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky’s request to travel abroad for medical treatment, members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) have demanded the release of prtotesters who are in police custody.

In a statement on Wednesday, IMN demanded the release of 12 corpses, and 11 injured protesters still in custody, stating that they were detained without being charged to court.

It said, “the time has come for those who mischievously claimed earlier that until the court decided the fate of Sheikh Zakzaky, they couldn’t do anything in spite of his deteriorating health and the incessant call for his release. Now that the court has acceded to the demand for treatment abroad, not only that we await prompt compliance but we also want to see expedition in the process of the trip.”

The statement which was issued by a top member of the IMN, Abdullahi Musa reads in part: “We wish to inform the public about the continuous incarceration of the victims of Monday, 22nd July, 2019 police brutality. The victims had been severely injured before their being whisked away, and they are still languishing in police cruel custody.

“Again, police are yet to release twelve (12) corpses to their bereaved families for funeral prayers according to Islamic injunction, nine (9) of which were killed forthwith at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja and three (3) died under their detention. The families of those that were killed have made several attempts to collect the corpses, but the Police rejected their request. Now, over two weeks in the wake of the incident, the corpses are yet with the Police.

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“Likewise, the Police continue to detain 63 protesters without taking them to Court. Out of the 63, 11 people sustained various degrees of serious injuries that required urgent medical attention.

“Despite their critical condition, the Police have only taken the injured ones to unknown location without given them the required medical attention.

“Even the families of the injured have made several attempts to provide medical treatment to them, but the Police turned down their request.

“Moreover, some of the injured, who returned to their families, were taken to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital by their respective families for effective treatment, but police attacked the hospital and took them away violently while receiving treatment, and they are still in their detention without medical treatment.

“It is pertinent to remind the Police that detaining free-zakzaky protesters, including female and minors, for more than two weeks with life-threatening injuries and denying them any medical treatment is a sinister disrespect for the laws of the land and United Nation Human Rights Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.

“It is quite inhuman for the Nigeria Police to arrest hospitalized patients and detain them without treatment. Obviously, the rights of the protesters have been violated and the lives of those that are still alive under police detention are in extreme danger.”

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