High Court absolve 91 Shi’ites in Kadun

Honorable Justice Hajaratu Gwada of the Kaduna High Court yesterday discharged and acquitted 91 members of the Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky led Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shi’ites.

The Shi’ites have been in prison since 2015, when some of their members clashed with the military in Zaria. The Shi’ites were acquitted for lack of evidence linking them to the death of a soldier during the bloody clash. Addressing journalists shortly after the release of the IMN members, their counsel, Mr. Maxwell Kyon, said his clients were charged with culpable homicide punishable by death, criminal conspiracy and disturbance of peace.
Kyon, however, declared the state failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt, hence he had no option than to file a no case submission before Justice Gwada, and the court was able to determine that the state was unable to prove their case against the defendants.

He lamented that it was quite unfortunate for the system to hold persons in custody for no case for that long, stressing that some of them lost their children, wives, admission in tertiary institution while in custody. He also said Kaduna state must take responsibility of rehabilitating his clients for keeping them in prison for four years.

“The government should engage with us and come out with a figure as compensation for those who spent four years in detention at the Correctional Centre.
The government made those people to be arrested and remanded in prison. We want government to take responsibility for the incarceration of these people for four years. Many lost their jobs, some lost admissions in tertiary institutions and I know of one whose wife left while he was in prison,” he declared. Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Government, in its reaction, said: “The case in KDH/ KAD/40C/2016 began as a fallout of the events that began in Zaria from December 12, 2015 when members of the now proscribed group attempted to prevent the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff from passing through a public highway.
“After the clashes, 90 of those arrested at the scene were handed over to the police. At the conclusion of investigations, a five count charge of Criminal Conspiracy, Culpable Homicide, Unlawful Assembly, Disturbance of Public Peace and Wrongful Restraint, under Sections 97, 221, 102, 106 and 256 of the Penal Code, was preferred against them.