TheCable

Femi Falana, human rights lawyer, has written yet another letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on the detention of Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN)

He said the federal government cannot claim to respect the rule of law when it has refused to release Zakzaky from its custody.

In a letter entitled ‘Request for the release of Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife from illegal detention’, the lawyer wondered why Zakzaky, his client, had not been released despite being freed by the court.

He said despite Buhari’s admonition that security security agencies must treat members of  IMN according to the rule of law, the police have continued to disrupt “peaceful rallies of the Shi’ites”.

“In a considered judgment delivered on December 2, 2016 the federal high court declared the detention of our clients illegal and unconstitutional and ordered their release from the custody of the State Security Service within 45 days from the date of the judgment,” the letter read.

“The federal government was also ordered to provide a temporary accommodation for our clients on account of the unchallenged evidence that the army and the Kaduna had burnt down and demolished their residence. Furthermore, the court awarded N50 million as reparation for the illegal arrest and detention of our clients.

“Although the federal government claims to operate under the rule of law it has treated the said orders of the federal high court with contempt. As if that is not enough, some public officers have contemptuously justified the continued detention of our clients without any legal basis whatsoever.”

He said because his client was detained illegally without a trial, he has lost his right eye.

“Owing to lack of medical attention In detention Sheikh El-Zakzaky has lost his right eye. In a bid to cover up the unprecedented atrocities perpetrated by the Army and the Kaduna state government  our clients were deliberately  prevented from testifying before the Judicial Commission of inquiry set up by Governor Nasir El-Rufai to probe the incident,” it read.

“However, during the proceedings of the Judicial Commission the Nigerian Army was unable to substantiate the monstrous allegation that the Shi’ites had planned to assassinate general Buratai. Upon coming to the conclusion that the massacre was premeditated the Commission recommended that the murderers be fished out and prosecuted for culpable homicide.”

He urged the president to use his office to release his client from detention.

Falana had written similar letters in the past.

Zakzaky has been in detention since 2015 when the Shi’ites clashed with the army.