{"id":27375,"date":"2016-08-02T02:32:13","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T02:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/nigeria-shia-killings-army-should-be-prosecuted\/"},"modified":"2016-08-02T02:31:37","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T02:31:37","slug":"nigeria-shia-killings-army-should-be-prosecuted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/nigeria-shia-killings-army-should-be-prosecuted\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria Shia killings: Army should be prosecuted"},"content":{"rendered":"

{A judicial inquiry has concluded that Nigerian troops should be prosecuted for the killing of 349 Shia Muslims in the northern city of Zaria last year.}<\/p>\n

The report corroborates findings by human rights organisations on the use of “excessive force” by the army.<\/p>\n

A Nigerian army spokesman said the report was being studied.<\/p>\n

The military previously blamed the unrest on the Shia sect, which it accused of trying to assassinate army chief Gen Tukur Buratai.<\/p>\n

The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) denies those allegations.<\/p>\n

The commission has recommended steps to identify and arrest the soldiers.<\/p>\n

The IMN boycotted the commission of inquiry because it said it was denied access to Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, its leader who is still being held by police.<\/p>\n

The commission also blamed the Shia leader for failing to control his followers.<\/p>\n

Initially, the military told the BBC that it had killed no-one in Zaria, leading to accusations of a cover-up.<\/p>\n

But this official inquiry does not pull any punches. The inquiry states the army used “excessive force” killing hundreds of members of a Shia organisation.<\/p>\n

One military source told me the “army intended to teach the Shia a lesson” after members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria stopped the convoy of the army’s chief of staff in Zaria last December.<\/p>\n

The big question is how the government will now respond to the inquiry’s findings.<\/p>\n

Will President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, seek to root out human rights violations in the army? Or will he do nothing, allowing a culture of impunity to reign?<\/p>\n

The inquiry’s findings will also raise uncomfortable questions for the US and British armies who provide training and assistance to the Nigerian military in their fight against Boko Haram.<\/p>\n

The report said 349 people, including one soldier, were killed in the clashes and property worth thousands of dollars destroyed.<\/p>\n

“Out of the said 349 dead persons, 347 (excluding the soldier) were buried in a mass grave,” said the report.<\/p>\n

The commission said it had received 3,578 memoranda – 132 letters and 3,446 emails – along with 39 exhibits and 87 witnesses testimonies in the course of the inquiry and the writing of the 193-page report, according to Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s Islamic spiritual leader, the Sultan of Sokoto, has warned that the raids on the sect could spark a new insurgency.<\/p>\n

Militant Sunni Islamist group Boko Haram has killed thousands of people in its pursuit of an Islamic state, and has previously attacked the IMN.<\/p>\n

The IMN said the military had destroyed its religious shrine and the home of Sheikh Zakzaky during the raid.<\/p>\n

Those killed during the incident include the group’s deputy leader and its spokesman.<\/p>\n

Last year, three sons of Sheikh Zakzaky were killed in clashes between the army and pilgrims in a religious procession.<\/p>\n

{{Shia in Nigeria }} <\/p>\n

Shia are minority in Nigeria but their numbers are increasing<\/p>\n

The IMN, formed in the 1980s, is the main Shia group led by Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky<\/p>\n

They operate their own schools and hospitals in some northern states<\/p>\n

They have a history of clashes with the security forces<\/p>\n

The IMN is backed by Shia-dominated Iran and its members often go there to study<\/p>\n

Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram condemns Shias as heretics who should be killed<\/p>\n

\"Shia<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{A judicial inquiry has concluded that Nigerian troops should be prosecuted for the killing of 349 Shia Muslims in the northern city of Zaria last year.} The report corroborates findings by human rights organisations on the use of “excessive force” by the army. A Nigerian army spokesman said the report was being studied. The military […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[249],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-bbc"],"bylines":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"contributors":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27375"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27375"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}