Fresh Press conference held on the deteriorating health condition of Sheikh Zakzaky (H)

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the leadership of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky (H) have organised a press conference on Wednesday 19th June, 2019 in Abuja on the deteriorating health condition of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky (H).

Below is the copy of the press release distributed to the journalists and the general public during the press conference.

Press release

TENSION BUILDS AS THE HEALTH CONDITION OF SHEIKH IBRAHEEM ZAKZAKY AND HIS WIFE CONTINUES TO DETERIORATE

Good afternoon to you all.

I would like to thank the journalists and all participants in this press conference for honouring our invitation at short notice. The aim of this press conference is to update the public on the deteriorating health condition of His Eminence, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife.

If the public could recall, on the 12th of December, 2015 armed-to-the-teeth soldiers massacred more than 1,000 persons in Zaria, including women, children and the old. Even heavily pregnant women, nursing mothers, sucklings and toddlers were not spared: some were burnt alive. Those killed, nay some in their last gasps, were all thrown and buried in mass graves. Properties worth billions of naira bulldozed, so as to obliterate conclusive evidences of the crimes. Such brutal and wanton bloodbath could not have happened without Buhari’s order, more so at a short span of 48 hours.
The carnage left hundreds wounded, and some of those wounded are to date battling with various degrees of the wounds sustained. Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife, were sprayed with poisonous bullets, and kept in detention in spite of the fact that they are in urgent need of special medical attention. Without such medical attention, their lives are in danger!
The perpetuation of the persecution against us continue nonstop, the latest of such crimes was that committed in October, 2018 during Arbaeen symbolic trek in Abuja.
Almost 4 years after the massacre, Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife are yet to be given proper medical attention. They are being denied their fundamental rights by tyrant Buhari.

On the 25th April, 2019, a delegation of expert doctors and consultants led by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) gained access to Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife: and they conducted initial medical investigations on both of them.

The reports stated that Sheikh Zakzaky sustained multiple gunshot injuries, particularly in both of his eyes, his left hand and his right leg. All this occurred on the 14th of December 2015. However, he underwent extensive surgeries in the eyes. Recently, there is the issue of chest pain and breath shortness that the Sheikh is having. The report also stated that Malama Zeenah also sustained gunshot injuries, most especially in her abdomen and blunt facial trauma causing fracture of the nasal bones. Again, she has severe, progressive and disabling bilateral knee joint pains affecting her daily activities, including walking inside the house, necessitating continuous use of a wheelchair.

The medical reports of Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife revealed that the couple needs urgent treatment that could only be obtained outside Nigeria. The Doctors strongly recommended that the couple be allowed urgent treatment in efficient health facilities abroad both on medical and humanitarian grounds.

The medical reports have been duly submitted to:

Kaduna High Court;
Department of State Services;
National Human Rights Commission;
National Assembly;
United Nations;
European Union; etc.

It is quite inhuman that the Sheikh and his wife are still under detention without proper medical treatment despite a Federal High Court ruling in December, 2016 by Justice Gabriel Kolawale that ordered for the immediate and unconditional release of the couple and payment of compensation to them for fundamental rights violation.

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations Human Rights Council at its 83rd session held on 19th – 23rd November 2018, and published on 10th January, 2019, has opined that the deprivation of liberty of Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his wife, being in contravention of article 8, 9, 19, and 20 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 9, 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is arbitrary and falls within categories I, II and III”.

Obviously, the rights of the couple have been violated, and their lives are in danger. Recent information reaching us through the relatives of the Sheikh revealed that the poisonous bullets used by the trigger-happy soldiers are still in the body of the couple, causing a lot of damages and sickness reactions to the Sheikh and his wife. Unless the poisonous bullets are removed, the lives of the couple are at stake.

In view of the foregoing, we are reiterating our demand for unconditional release of our Leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky (H) and his wife Zeenah Ibraheem.

Abdullahi Muhammad Musa
For the Academic Forum of the Islamic movement in Nigeria