SHAFAQNA – Tens of thousands of people have attended worldwide demonstrations staged to protest against the illegal detention of Sheikh Zakzaky. The leader of millions of Shia Muslims in Nigeria has been illegally detained for two years despite a court ruling which decreed he must be set free. In London the Islamic Human Rights Commission organized hundreds of demonstrators who gathered outside the Nigerian High Commission to register their support of the humble religious scholar who has witnessed thousands of his followers killed by the Wahhabist and Western imperialist supported Nigerian regime. A twitter storm and social media also reached millions of people around the world as London protestors projected images of the Shaykh across the Nigerian Embassy located near Trafalgar Square.

Mu’allim Ibraheem Al-Zakzaky (el-Zakzaky) is the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. His movement has been highly critical of political corruption, the Nigerian- Israeli Zionist governmental relationships and intelligence sharing, Boko Haram and the relationship it has with facets of the Nigerian army, as well as other issues. The movement itself is heavily involved in educational and social programmes across Nigeria.

Masoud Shadjareh, Founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said “the actions of the government are so blatantly unjust that they have had to disregard their own judiciary to prevent the poorly Shaykh’s release.” The Shaikh is a leading voice against corruption in the country; Al Zakzaky has long stood as a beacon of hope and unity in Nigeria with his consistent demand for justice for the oppressed. The massacre of December 2015 in Zaria resulted in loss of life – leaving children orphaned and families torn apart.

Ironically, with Donald Trump unjustly declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, it was the Islamic movement in Nigeria’s pro-Palestine demonstrations which became the canvas for the Nigerian governments initial violence against their movement with some 40 people shot and killed by an army unit on that Al Quds day, including the three martyred sons of Shaykh Zakzaky.

Activists from the movement were killed in separate attacks at the funeral of some of those victims in the Hussainiyah Baqiyatullah (Islamic Centre) in Zaria, where an army unit approached and opened fire on unarmed mourners. Simultaneously soldiers advanced on the house of Al-Zakzaky, and supporters who had formed an unarmed human shield to protect the household. Many defenceless people from the “shield” were shot and killed by the military that day and the persecution continues unabated.

Six of Shaykh Zakzaki’s sons have now been martyred among the tens of thousands of others that are still being intimated harassed and tortured – their crime? Simply that they represent the success of Shaykh Zakzaky’s peaceful movement for Justice which exemplifies the Prophetic virtue ethics dream for humanity. According to his supporters It is this peaceful process that frankly petrifies the corrupt establishment who fear the Shaykh’s pan-communal and pan-religious respect among Nigerian people have for him and the threat of a Khomeini style peoples revolution.

His emminence Shaykh Al Zakzaky has lost an eye while in illegal custody and was also shot during his arrest but inspite of these barbaric acts his followers have been ordered by him to persue the principle of peaceful resistance. This act of responsibility comes inspite of the fact that they could potentially bring the country to a violent standstill.

IHRC have now managed to mobilize a major action by the United Nations upon the request of their NGO, something which is very rarely done. They have recommended people continue calling flash protests outside the Nigerian High Commission / Embassy in their respective countries in light of the crackdown against key members of the Islamic Movement and to Email or call the Foreign Office / Ministry of Foreign Affairs in your country demanding their immediate intervention to prevent these massacres and the attack on the house of al-Zakzaky.

The Human Rights NGO also says campaigners should pray for the victims but practically people in Britain can email their outrage to the British Foreign Office :