Abuja:Thousands of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria(IMN) in Abuja staged a protest against continued illegal detention of Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqoub Zakzaky and demanded his immediate release.

On 22nd September,Nigerian police and army arrested hundrends of women and childrens and fired tear gas shells and live bullets to disperse the peaceful march which leads scores of protestors were injured.

The protestors were holding placards and banners and chanted slogans against pro zionist policies of Nigerian goverment.

Spokesman of IMN condemned th3 action of police and sqid that Certainly, in a democracy, it is the right of citizens to protest peacefully without seeking from authorities.

“The peaceful protest march today was aimed at drawing public attention to the plight of our innocent Leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzakay, his wife, and hundreds of other IMN members that have remained unjustifiably in detention for more than nine months.

The mental and thepsychological agony to which millions of IMN members have been subjected to is phenomenal.It is with the authoritative pronouncement of the Court of Appeal on the fundamental right of Nigerians to freedom of assembly and expression through peaceful rallies and protests that we continue to exercise our rights even in the face of state-sponsored brutality against us.

The Federal Government needs to be called to order to restrain the police and other security agencies from further harassing or intimidating Free Zakzaky protests.

Peaceful protestors call on the international community as a matter of urgency, to impose sanctions, travel bans and freezing of foreign accounts of top political, military and security men who have featured prominently on the blatant rights abuse of their citizens such as the Zaria massacre of December 2015, characterised by extra-judicial killings of thousand and more lives, arbitrary arrests, denial of legal and medical access, abductions and mass graves.

Members of  the international community should also put pressure on the government to speedily release Shaikh Zakzaky for urgent medical attention.