At least 45 Islamic Movement of Nigeria members killed in Abuja and Nasarawa state

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Dozens of Shia Muslims were shot by Nigeria’s security forces in two days while peacefully protesting against the imprisonment of their leader, evidence collected by Amnesty International shows.

At least 45 members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) were killed in thecapital, Abuja, and the neighbouring state of Nasarawa on Saturday and Monday, the human rights group said. Four hundred people were reportedly arrested on Tuesday.

Soldiers used automatic weapons on the protesters in a “horrific use of excessive force by soldiers and police”, according to Amnesty. On Saturday, at least six people were killed. On Monday, the death toll was at least 39, with another 122 sustaining gunshot wounds.

The protesters were demanding the release of Ibrahim Zakzaky. He has been in prison since 2015, when the Nigerian army killed hundreds of his supporters near his home in Zaria. In April, he was charged with murder.

Most of Nigeria’s Muslims are Sunnis but Zakzaky has grown a large following, apparently inspired by the 1979 Iranian revolution. Some analysts worry that repeated crackdowns by the authorities might lead to a similar situation to that in the north-east, where the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions during a nine-year crisis.

The Nigerian military said its troops were acting in self-defence, although there were no reports of casualties among the security forces.

Defence spokesman, John Agim, said: “They met the soldiers in the call of their duty and the soldiers tried to defend themselves.”

However, some of the dead had been shot in the chest and head, and others had multiple gunshot wounds.

Osai Ojigho of Amnesty said: “It seems the Nigerian military are deliberately using tactics designed to kill when dealing with IMN gatherings. Many of these shootings clearly amount to extrajudicial executions.

“This violent crackdown on IMN protesters is unjustified and unacceptable. They were perfectly within their rights to hold a religious procession and protest and there was no evidence they posed an imminent threat to life.”

British taxpayers’ money is spent on training Nigerian soldiers in a long-term arrangement, which was bolstered by the security agreement Theresa May signed with the country’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, on her trip to Africa in August.

The British ambassador, Paul Arkwright, said embassy staff were concerned and are talking to the government. The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are due to arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday, on the last leg of their west Africa tour.

The US embassy in Nigeria said it was concerned by the deaths resulting from clashes between Nigerian security forces and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, and urged restraint on all sides.

The US president, Donald Trump, approved the sale of $600m (£462m) worth of military jets to Nigeria in May, a deal that Barack Obama had frozen after a Nigerian fighter plane bombed a refugee camp, killing 100 people.