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'International community must force Nigeria into ending Shia crackdown'

This picture taken on April 26, 2016 shows policemen walking in the rubble of the destroyed religious center of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in the Danmagaji area of the northern city of Zaria. (Photo by AFP)

Since the Nigerian government does not respect the rights of Shia Muslims, the international community needs to put pressure on Abuja to “stop injustices” against the country's Shia community, says a human rights activist.

On Tuesday night, protesters gathered in front of the Nigerian embassy in London to urge the Nigerian government to stop its harsh crackdown on Shia Muslims in the African country, Massoud Shadjareh with the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday.

The Islamic Human Rights Commission holds protest rallies in Indonesia, Switzerland and Pakistan to bring attention to the injustice against the Shia community in Nigeria, he said, adding that the IHRC has called on the International Court of Justice to investigate the injustices carried out by the Nigerian government against Shia Muslims.

Nigeria resorts to suppression tactics to distract people from the internal problems in the government, which is in a state of “disarray”, Shadjareh stated.

“The Islamic Movement in Nigeria is known to be a peaceful organization challenging injustices and bribery, and it seems that the government is actually set to support bribery and corruption and chaos,” he further added.

Shadjareh also noted that the Nigerian government, which is scared of the country's Islamic movement due to its popularity among its 15 million members and five million supporters, has been forced by "Saudi Arabia" to tackle the movement.

On Wednesday, Nigerian forces opened fire at Shia mourners taking part in Ashura processions, killing at least nine people in the cities of Kaduna and Funtua. The killings came as mourners defied a state ban, holding processions in several cities to mark the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (Peace Be Upon Him), the third Shia imam.

The killings on Wednesday revive the memory of the run-up to last December's massacre of hundreds of the supporters of the Islamic movement at the hands of the army forces, and the arrest of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky.


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