Amnesty International has called on the Nigerian Army to urgently investigate the recent revelation by the Kaduna government – that 347 members of the Shiite Muslim sect were buried in mass graves.
The Nigerian Army had in December 2015, clashed with the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, in Zaria, Kaduna and while several members of the sect were reported death, the actual figure wasn’t known until Monday, when the revelation of mass graves was made by a Kaduna government official at a Public Hearing of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
Consequently, Amnesty International has posited that anyone suspected of criminal responsibility for these crimes must be brought to trial.
Country Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, M.K. Ibrahim, stated that “the horrific revelation by the Kaduna State government that hundreds of Shi’ites were gunned down and dumped in mass graves is an important first step to bringing all those suspected of criminal responsibility for this atrocity to trial.”
“It is now imperative that the mass grave sites are protected in order that a full independent forensic investigation can begin.”
“The bodies must be exhumed and Nigerian authorities should immediately reveal the whereabouts of those held in unacknowledged detention and either charge or release them.”
Leave a reply