MEMBERS of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, also known as Shi’ites, have petitioned the United Nations, the European Union and the Presidents of Canada, Switzerland and Norway over the non-release of the international passport of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, by the Federal Government.
In the petition dated August 20, 2021 and signed by the Secretary of its Academic Forum, Abdullahi Musa, the Muslim sect alleged plot by government to frustrate the plans by El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, to seek urgent medical attention abroad.
They said the couple may die of blood poisoning and other health complications arising from bullet shrapnels lodged in their bodies during the December 2015 clampdown on the sect in Zaria.
The letter partly reads, “Having had the documents confiscated during the aborted medical trip to India, now, in the wake of their being exculpated by the court, the couple remain stranded.
But, due to the fact that the medical leave granted by the Kaduna State High Court didn’t require security agents to sequester any travel documents, the seizure was beyond the bounds of legality, a pure transgression. It is glaringly obvious the government is only bending the laws of the land in its pursuit of an unjust cause.
The couple’s medical reports, submitted to the court in the year 2019 through their counsel, Femi Falana, SAN, brought about its acquiescence in the medical leave to the Asian subcontinent.
The court had acceded that the couple’s deteriorating health condition didn’t merely require qualified medical personnel for an effective examination, but also a medical facility with up-to-date equipment.
Travelling abroad for medical treatment is such a top priority for the couple. To expend five years and seven months in detention with numerous pieces of bullet shrapnel in the body, releasing deadly poison into the blood, is no child’s play.
“Unfortunately, ever since their discharge and acquittal, have not been able to travel outside the country for the much-needed treatment; because, their traveling documents are still with the authority.
“We solicit your kind intervention in the release of the documents as the couple are seriously suffering from many injuries and resultant multiple life-threatening health challenges.”
