Zakzaky’s sons ‘taken alive by soldiers and killed’

Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, the leader of the Shi’a Islamic group involved in a clash with soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Thursday, has claimed that the killing of his three sons was premeditated because soldiers took two of them into custody alive before shooting them.

He also said soldiers shot a third son of his in the stomach, and then barricaded the roads to prevent him from reaching the hospital.

The boy, Mahmud — a student of Almustapha University, Beirut, Lebanon — eventually died en route to the hospital.

Hundreds of thousands of Shi’a members were on a processional demonstration on the streets on Zaria on Thursday when a clash broke out with soldiers. A witness told TheCable that sporadic gunshots rent the air for hours, while Zaria said on Saturday that soldiers killed a total of 35 people.

He said the movement was in possession of16 corpses, while nine corpses were taken to the teaching hospital in the night. These figures excluded his three children and those murdered on Saturday in front of Hussainiya, headquarters of the movement.

“Members of our movement were on a normal peaceful annual Qudus (religious) procession in support of Palestinians, which was observed all over the world,” Zakzaky said.

“One of my sons, Mahmud, a student of Almustapha University, Beirut, was shot at the abdomen and started bleeding. We tried to rush him to the hospital but the soldiers blocked everywhere along the way and he bled to death.

“The soldiers also arrested some people, including three of my sons; they were taken alive and later killed two of them.

“They include Ahmad, a Chemical Engineering student at Shenyang University, China; Hamid, an Aeronautical Engineer at Xian University, China. Ali is still alive but [he is] wounded in the leg.”

He also accused the Army of refusing to release corpse of slain Shi’a men, but the police helped in the location of the corpses at Basawa Barracks.

“When we demanded for the release of our people, the Army refused and said that they would take them to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) for medication, not knowing that the two were killed.

“I want to assure you that these two children were cold bloodily murdered because they were taken alive.”

The Nigerian Army says its men did not trigger the shooting, but only shot in self-defence.

Director of army public relations, Brigadier–General Olajide Laleye, who spoke on the clash, said the shootings would be properly investigated.

“What is already clear is that Nigerian army troops did not initiate firing and only acted in self-defence after being fired upon,” Laleye said.