Eniola Akinkuotu and Friday Olokor
The leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, has dragged the Department of State Services and the Attorney-General of the Federation before the Federal High Court, Abuja.
According to The PUNCH, El-Zakzaky, through his lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), filed a fundamental human rights suit against the DSS and AGF Abubakar Malami.
The suit bothers on his prolonged detention and the refusal of the government to release his passport with number A50578740 since May 2019.
El-Zakzaky said despite the pronouncement of a Kaduna State High Court, which discharged and acquitted him and his wife, Zeenah, on July 28, the government was still keeping their travel documents.
The Shiite leader wants the court to declare that the refusal of the DSS and the AGF to allow him to travel abroad for medical treatment constituted a threat to his life as guaranteed by Section 33 of the 1999Constitution.
El-Zakzaky asked the court to grant a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from further violating his rights, including the red flag placed on his passport at land borders without a court order.
In addition, the Shiite leader urged the court to declare his refusal to allow him to travel abroad for medical treatment constituted a threat to his life as guaranteed by Section 33 of the 1999Constitution.
While describing his passport seizure as illegal and unconstitutional, El-Zakzaky is seeking seven reliefs, including an “order mandating the respondents to pay over to the applicant the sum of N2bn as general and exemplary damages for the violation of the applicant’s rights to freedom of movement, fair hearing and property.”
El-Zakzaky also described the 2015 massacre of his followers by soldiers in Zaria as “a pre-planned crackdown.”
He said, “The bullets in my body scattered; so there are some fragments in my body, hands, thigh and head. I am still living with lead poison in my body, including the fragments of bullets.
“It’s the will of Allah that I’m still alive; because when they tested the level of lead in my body, at one time, it was about 244.
“On July 28 this year, we were discharged and acquitted, and we were exonerated from all the eight charges against us. They were ordered to pay compensation, yet nothing has happened.
“So, the matter has not come to an end. We are still being, in a way, incarcerated because we are not allowed out of the country for no reason.
“They burnt our house to ashes and they were surprised that after killing hundreds of people and burning the house, we were still alive – myself, my wife, my children and some few brothers and sisters. And they opened fire on us. Three of my children were killed before me. My wife and I were wounded, terribly wounded.”
