Nigeria Urged to Send Shiite Cleric Sheikh Zakzaky to Iran

Iran’s Prosecutor General has called on the Nigerian government to release top Shiite cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky and send him to the Islamic Republic of Iran for treatment.

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri in a letter to judicial authorities of Nigeria has condemned the military men’s measures against the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) asking them to send the Shiite leader to Iran for medical treatment.

He also mentioned that the Islamic Republic has submitted its objection to the international judicial bodies.

The Iranian top judicial authority further called on international legal organisations to cooperate in pursuing this issue.

Sheikh Zakzaky, who is in his mid-sixties, lost his left eyesight in a 2015 raid by security forces that left more than 300 of his followers and three of his sons dead. His wife also sustained serious wounds.

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), based in London, said earlier that the cleric’s health condition has further deteriorated, since he was reportedly poisoned in prison.

The cleric’s son, Mohammad, says his father was in dire need of medical treatment, as “large and dangerous quantities of lead and cadmium have been found in his blood.” He said that the authorities intended to murder his father since they refuse to take any measures.

In 2016, Nigeria’s federal high court ordered Zakzaky’s unconditional release from jail following a trial, but the government has so far refused to set him free.

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