From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
A Kaduna State High Court sitting in Kaduna has set aside August 5 to rule on the bail application file by the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat.
Counsel to Zakzaky, Femi Falana, had filled the application on behalf of his clients on July 18th 2019, seeking permission for the detained Shi’ites leader and his wife to travel abroad for medical treatment.
Falana said the Shi’ites leader’s health was getting worse by the day.
He stated that only a foreign medical treatment was required to stabilise the couple’s health condition.
But the prosecuting counsel, Debris Bayero, opposed the bail application.
He argued that El-Zakzaky can be treated in Nigeria and insisted that there was no need for the court to grant him bail to travel abroad.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Darius Khobo, adjourned the ruling on the application to August 5.
El-Zakzaky and his wife are facing an eight-count of culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disturbance of public peace and have been detained since 2015.
Shi’ites have clash with Nigeria’s security operatives multiple times during protests against El-Zakzaky’s continued detention.
Iran government has also asked the Nigerian government to release El-Zakzaky to go to Iran for medical treatment.
The Nigerian government last week secured a court order to proscribe Shi’ites and declare them a terrorist organisation.
But Falana condemned the action which he said was illegal and asked the government to withdraw the order.
“The proscription of the IMN because of its protests against the disobedience of court orders by the President Muhammadu Buhari regime is immoral and illegal in every material particular,” Falana said.
However, the government on Sunday noted that it is only “fighting lawlessness and criminality and not pursuing a policy of discrimination against any group.”
The government said it only wanted to “discourage wanton violence, murder and willful destruction of public and private property.”
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