{"id":8383,"date":"2016-03-23T20:12:44","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T20:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=8383"},"modified":"2016-03-23T20:12:44","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T20:12:44","slug":"zaria-massacre-islamic-rights-group-calls-for-probe-of-buhari-el-rufai-buratai-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=8383","title":{"rendered":"Zaria Massacre: Islamic Rights Group Calls For Probe Of Buhari, El Rufai, Buratai, Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Islamic Human Rights Commission, IHRC, has asked the International Criminal Court, ICC, to commence immediate investigation of President Muhammadu Buhari, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el Rufai, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, and a host of other politicians and military officers over the killing of members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, in Zaria in December, 2015.<\/p>\n

In a report issued this week on its findings on the December 2015 clash between the military and IMN members, the London-based Islamic human rights body, expressed grave concern over \u201cviolent attacks by the Nigerian Army between 12 and 14 December, 2015,\u201d concluding that the soldiers committed crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crimes committed between the 12th and 14th December 2015 in Zaria, Kaduna State, by the Nigerian army amount to crimes against humanity. The crimes committed by the Nigerian army meet all the necessary legal requirements to warrant a preliminary investigation by the ICC prosecutor,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The group recommended that Nigerian soldiers\u00a0be suspended from participating in international peace keeping missions organised by the United Nations and African Union until the perpetrators of the killings are brought to justice.<\/p>\n

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Others on the long list of persons the IHRC wants investigated for the killings include the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II; Emir of Zazzau, Shehu Idris; Sheik Sambo Yusuf Rigachukun, an Islamic cleric; Army spokesperson, Sani Usman Kukasheka; and heads of Depot Nigerian Army, 1 Division Nigerian Army, defence and military intelligence, among others.<\/p>\n

According to the report, soldiers were deployed on December 12, 2015 to the Hussainiyyah religious headquarters of the group and not long after shot at members of IMN, who had dared to inquire the heavy presence of soldiers in their neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

It said that the soldiers opened fire at close range on innocent civilians who did not provoke them and bore no arms, killing more than 1,000 and injuring hundreds of others.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the three days of violence, the unlawful\u00a0conduct of and the repressive measures taken by the army resulted in more than 1000 people killed and many hundreds injured. In\u00a0addition to those, cases of\u00a0extrajudicial killings, rape,\u00a0genital mutilation and sexual assault, torture and mass graves have\u00a0also been evidenced in the emerging reports,\u201d the IHRC stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the midst of the confusion that ensued, and without warning, a siren belonging to the purported entourage of the Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant\u00a0General Tukur Yusuf Buratai went off. Video evidence and eyewitnesses saw soldiers killing small children who were confused and running for refuge outside the Hussainiyyah,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

In addition to those killed, the report said, 219 members of IMN are still in detention while 480 are missing.<\/p>\n

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The two days attack also resulted in the destruction of the group\u2019s properties, including the Hussainiyyah and religious centre, home of the IMN leader Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky in Gyellesu, the group\u2019s burial ground of Darur-Rahma, and the home and burial place of Hajiya Saliha Muhammad, Zakzaky\u2019s late mother, all in Zaria.<\/p>\n

According to the London-based nongovernmental organisation, the pattern of attacks suggests a deliberate and systematic plot to wipe out a group that reportedly has 10 million to 15 million supporters nationwide, cutting across different religions.<\/p>\n

In gathering its evidence, IHRC relied primarily on eye witness and victims\u2019 testimonies, with many giving gory details of what they were put through by the military, including sexual violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cSexual violence has also been reported, including cases of rape against women affiliates of the IMN. A 14-year old female witness told IHRC that the military shot her in her private parts when she resisted attempts by soldiers to rape her. Some women reportedly had their breasts cut off and others were deliberately shot in the pelvic region damaging their uteri,\u201d the group noted, adding that the dead were also mutilated by having their throats slit, genitals cut and eyes poked.<\/p>\n

Also, it said, while majority of the deaths were from gunshots fired by soldiers, there were cases of people being burnt alive and others appeared with machete or knife wounds, suggesting that criminals might have taken advantage of the carnage to carry out looting in the full glare of soldiers.<\/p>\n

The IHRC said that there were also signs of torture and electrocution on bodies of detainees, including Zakzaky, who has remained in military custody with his wife Zeenat.<\/p>\n

Despite the fact that Zakzaky\u2019s supporters were unarmed, soldiers used automatic weapons, explosives and armoured vehicles against them, it alleged.<\/p>\n

The IHRC says it does not want the incident swept under the carpet, as it happened in July 2014 when soldiers shot at the group during a procession in support of Palestine, killing 34 IMN supporters, among whom were three of Zakzaky\u2019s sons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scale and brutality of this massacre and unwillingness of the Nigerian government to implement due process makes it essential for the international court to investigate. The failure of the international community to act against atrocities on this scale stands to have grave consequences,\u201d chairman of IHRC, Massoud Shadjareh, said.<\/p>\n

Although Kaduna State government set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry following last December\u2019s incident, IHRC expressed its reservation about the independence and impartiality of the body, particularly with Governor El-Rufai publicly blaming the group for certain actions.<\/p>\n

The army did not comment on the report. Army spokesperson, Sani Usman, who is one of those implicated in the report, did not answer his phone or respond to a text message sent to him.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/icirnigeria.org\/\"Nigeria<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Islamic Human Rights Commission, IHRC, has asked the International Criminal Court, ICC, to commence immediate investigation of President Muhammadu Buhari, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el Rufai, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, and a host of other politicians and military officers over the killing of members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[1668,1666,1665,1667],"class_list":["post-8383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news","tag-ibrahim-al-zakzaky","tag-international-criminal-court","tag-islamic-human-rights-commission","tag-kaduna-state"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Nigeria-army.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-2bd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8384,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8383\/revisions\/8384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}