‘Shiite Detainees Including Leader El-Zakzaky ‘Dying’ Without Medical Care In Custody’

Nigerian Muslims wounded in military raids earlier this month are dying in detention because they are being denied medical care, the Shia Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) said on Monday.

Ibrahim Musa, the movement’s spokesman, said in a statement two of its members died in detention on Sunday. He said at least 40 other wounded members – including founder Ibrahim Zakzaky – were also not receiving medical treatment.

Human rights activists say Nigerian troops killed hundreds of Shia Muslims in raids in the northern town of Zaria over three days from December 12 to 14. The army says it responded after the IMN tried to block the convoy of Nigeria’s army chief – a charge the Shia Muslims deny.

It is impossible to say how many died in Zaria as the military sealed off the area for days.

Musa also said police handed over the bodies of 12 members wounded in a protest and later detained in Kaduna city on December 15.

Nigerian police say they acted to prevent an attack on a police station and only fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

“We only repel the sect who attempted to attack our station,” Zubairu Abdullahi, a police spokesman, said. “We only used tear gas to disperse them. Maybe in the process of dispersing them, they sustained injury, I don’t know.”

Hundreds of Shia Muslims held a peaceful protest in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city in the north, to demand the release of Zakzaky and other detainees.