Shiites’ protests: Over 45 killed, says Amnesty

Human rights campaigners on Wednesday accused Nigeria’s security
forces of killing dozens by using “horrific” force during a
crackdown on protesting supporters of an imprisoned Shiite
cleric.

Amnesty International said it had “strong evidence” that police
and soldiers used automatic weapons against members of the Islamic
Movement of Nigeria (IMN) at marches in and around Abuja.

The group said upwards of 45 people were killed — six on
Saturday and at least 39 on Monday, when some 122 were also
injured.

The IMN itself said it had counted 49 dead. The military’s
official death toll is six.

“We have seen a shocking and unconscionable use of deadly force
by soldiers and police against IMN members,” said Amnesty’s Nigeria
director, Osai Ojigho.

“Video footage and eyewitness testimonies consistently show that
the Nigerian military dispersed peaceful gatherings by firing live
ammunition without warning,” she added.

“Those injured were shot in different parts of the body — head,
neck, back, chest, shoulder, legs, arms — and some of them had
multiple gunshot wounds.”

Ojigho said the “horrific use of excessive force” was not crowd
control but aimed to kill, calling for an independent probe and the
prosecution of those responsible.

– ‘Wronged and oppressed’ –
In Mararaba village, in Nasarawa state 30 kilometres (nearly 20
miles) from central Abuja, mourners gathered in preparation for the
burial of 20 victims.

AFP reporters counted the white-shrouded bodies, as IMN members
and tearful family members of the deceased gathered to pay their
final respects.

“These are the victims the Nigerian Army attacked on Monday at
Kugbo security check point on our way to Abuja,” said IMN member
Abdullahi Mohammad Musa.

The group’s spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, said separately that
another burial for six people was held in the northern city of
Zaria.

“We are feeling bad, we are feeling wronged, we are oppressed,”
he added.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is almost evenly split
between a mostly Muslim north — which is predominantly Sunni — and
a largely Christian south.

Experts have warned the government that a heavy-handed response
to the group risks sparking conflict in a volatile region where
poverty is widespread.

The December 2015 clashes that led to Zakzaky’s detention saw
the army kill more than 300 of his supporters, who were buried in
mass graves, according to human rights groups.

Amnesty said it appeared a similar strategy appeared to have
been employed against the IMN in the latest protests.

The clashes and the military’s use of deadly force against
civilians have raised fears that the IMN could become radicalised
in the same way as the Islamist group Boko Haram in northeast
Nigeria, who were subject to a crackdown in 2009.

The military offensive against the jihadist group is widely
accepted as the catalyst for it to take up arms against the
government.

In the last nine years, more than 27,000 people have been killed
and some two million displaced, while the fighting has triggered a
humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s remote northeast.

– Self-defence –
Conflicting death tolls are not unusual in Nigeria and the
authorities often play down casualty figures.

Nigeria’s army said troops fired on IMN in self-defence.

“They met the soldiers in the call of their duty and the
soldiers tried to defend themselves,” said defence spokesman John
Agim.

On Saturday, the military fired at the IMN procession and
accused them of attempting to steal weapons and ammunition, an
account the IMN “categorically” denies.

Two days later, IMN and troops clashed again on the outskirts of
Abuja.

On Tuesday, Nigerian police fired shots and tear gas at the
supporters during another march and arrested 400 IMN members.

Zakzaky is currently facing a culpable homicide charge in
connection with the 2015 violence and is in jail despite a court
order granting him bail.

The Shiite leader, who is in his mid-sixties, has been at
loggerheads with the authorities for years because of his call for
an Iranian-style Islamic revolution in Nigeria.

AFP.