• INCIDENTS
    • Nigeria
      • South West
      • South South
      • South East
      • North Central
      • North East
      • North West
    • West Africa
      • Senegal
      • Benin Republic
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Cote d’Ivoire
      • Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea-Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger Republic
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • NEWS
    • Defending the Civic Space – Blog
    • AML – CFT NEWS
    • Foreign News
    • Local News
    • Videos
  • RESOURCES
    • Policy briefs
    • Restrictive legislations
    • Press statements
    • INFOGRAPHICS
    • Publications
    • Newsletters
  • ACTION GROUP
    • Join
    • Steering Committee
    • Members
    • Group Activities
    • Member Activities
  • SPECIAL CAUSES
    • COVID-19
      • General News
      • Incidents
      • Eyewitness Reports
    • #ENDSARS
      • General News
      • Missing Persons
      • Gallery
      • Trends & Hashtags
  • CSR-HUB
    • Blog
    • Upcoming Events
Menu
  • INCIDENTS
    • Nigeria
      • South West
      • South South
      • South East
      • North Central
      • North East
      • North West
    • West Africa
      • Senegal
      • Benin Republic
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Cote d’Ivoire
      • Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea-Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger Republic
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • NEWS
    • Defending the Civic Space – Blog
    • AML – CFT NEWS
    • Foreign News
    • Local News
    • Videos
  • RESOURCES
    • Policy briefs
    • Restrictive legislations
    • Press statements
    • INFOGRAPHICS
    • Publications
    • Newsletters
  • ACTION GROUP
    • Join
    • Steering Committee
    • Members
    • Group Activities
    • Member Activities
  • SPECIAL CAUSES
    • COVID-19
      • General News
      • Incidents
      • Eyewitness Reports
    • #ENDSARS
      • General News
      • Missing Persons
      • Gallery
      • Trends & Hashtags
  • CSR-HUB
    • Blog
    • Upcoming Events

Nigerian Shiites Leader, El-Zakzaky, Wife Released from Kaduna Prison after 5-Year Illegal Incarceration

  • Date of Occurrence
    July 28, 2021
  • State/Country
    Kaduna, Nigeria
  • Details
  • Comments 0
  • prev
  • next
  • Bookmark
  • Share
  • Report
  • Leave a review
  • prev
  • next
Image
Description

The leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, have been released from Kaduna Correctional Centre after they were acquitted and discharged by the Kaduna State High Court on Wednesday.

According to their lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), they have left Kaduna for an unknown destination.

Justice Gideon Kurada of the Kaduna State High Court had earlier acquitted and discharged the Shiites leader, El- Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat Ibrahim who had been standing trial in the court for the past four years.

In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, Justice Kurada upheld the no-case submission filed by Zakzaky’s lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), saying the witnesses presented by the prosecution counsel had been unable to establish any connection between the charges and El-Zakzaky.

El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, were standing trial on eight counts bordering on alleged culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disruption of the public peace, among others.

The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them.

The couple had been in detention since 2015, after IMN supporters clashed with soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna.

Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, had filed a no-case submission and asked the court to dismiss the charges levelled against them as there was no criminal case so far that has been established against the defendants by the Kaduna state government.

The Judge in his judgement held that the charges filed in 2018, under the Kaduna State Penal Code, 2017 over offences allegedly committed on or about December 12, 2015, are incompetent and amount to an abuse of court process.

On the no-case submission filed by the defendants, the court resolved all the eight issues raised therein in favour of El-Zakzaky.

On count one, which bothered on conspiracy, it held that there is no single shred of evidence from which conspiracy can be inferred and that there is no single shred of evidence from which conspiracy can be held to have emanated.

On counts two to seven, the court held that for there to be abatement, there must be evidence of persons abated.

“That on the authority of PATRICK NJOVENS VS THE STATE the element of abatement and ingredients constituting the offences abated must be proved conjunctively. that there is no evidence of anybody abated or anything is done to invite any person to commit an offence on December 12, 2015.

“That all the witnesses were grandiosely discredited by the Defense counsel during cross-examination.

“That no credible evidence led that can competently rely upon... that the no-case submission of the Defendants finds merit and they are hereby discharged and acquitted,” one of the lawyers quoted Justice Kurada as ruling.

During the last sitting, Falana prayed the court to rule in favour of his clients and dismiss the charges levelled against them, saying there was no criminal case established against them so far by the Kaduna State Government.

The prosecuting counsel, Dari Bayero, had presented 15 witnesses, who testified against the defendants, and among them were two army officers, a retired director of State Security Service (SSS), also known as the Department of State Services (DSS), police officers and a medical doctor.

Meanwhile, SaharaReporters reported on Tuesday that a member of the Resource Forum of the IMN, Mohammed Ibrahim, stated that the members of the group were certain that justice would be served and that their leader, El-Zakzaky would be freed from prison on Wednesday.

Ibrahim said members of the group were patiently waiting for the court to establish a ”no-case submission" regarding the charges levelled against their leader, who has been detained and assaulted since 2015.

Details
  • Date of Occurrence
    2021-07-28
  • State/Country
    Kaduna
  • Source
    http://saharareporters.com/2021/07/28/update-nigerian-shiites-leader-el-zakzaky-wife-released-kaduna-prison-after-5-year
Location

Kaduna, Nigeria

Get Directions
Region
  • North West
Rights & Freedom Violated
  • Freedom of Association & Assembly
Gender of Victim(s)
  • Female
  • Male
Mode of Attacks
  • Forced Disappearances, Unlawful Arrests and Detention
  • Trials, Prosecution and Persecutions
  • Unlawful Killings, Physical Attacks, Torture, Degrading Treatment
  • Violation of Court Orders
  • Comments are closed.
  • You May Also Be Interested In

    Masari Bans NGOs from IDP Camps in Katsina

    • Katsina
    Aug12
    • Freedom of Association & Assembly

    El-Rufai Blocked Kaduna Summit On Peter Obi, Support Group Alleges

    • Kaduna
    Jul18
    • Freedom of Association & Assembly
    • +1

    One Dead, Many Injured as Nigeria Police Open Fire, Violently Disrupt Religious Gathering Of Shiites In Sokoto

    • Sokoto
    Aug19
    • Freedom of Association & Assembly

    This site is supported by:

    FGHR-150x50
    OSF-150x50
    fh
    ford-foundation-logo-150x50

    Closing Civic Spaces is a publicly-available database on closing spaces for civic engagement and civil society in Nigeria & West Africa. Data  is compiled from public sources.

    • +234-814-500-0067
    • Lagos, Nigeria

    Stay informed

    Get incidents as they happen

    Support our campaign to protect the civil society space

    Donate Now
    Donate to Defend the Civil Society Space

    © 2019 Closing Civic Spaces by Spaces for Change. Spaces for Change is a member of the Global NPO Coalition on FATF.

    Images, texts, & other forms of content are copyright of their respective owners.

    Cart

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • WhatsApp
    • Telegram
    • Pinterest
    • LinkedIn
    • Tumblr
    • VKontakte
    • Mail
    • Copy link