A group, Initiative for Conciliation and Right Protection has called on the Federal Government to release Sheikh El-Zakzaky, the leader of Islamic movement in Nigeria and his wife Zeenah for medical treatment abroad.
The leader of the group, Comrade Ahmad Isa made the call at a news conference on Thursday in Abuja.
Isa said that the call followed the revelation by the delegation of medical experts and consultants who visited the Islamic leader and his wife in detention on April 25.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Islamic leader has been in the custody of the Department of State Security (DSS) since 2016 in spite of the unconditional release granted by Justice Gabriel kolawole of the Federal High Court in December 2016 to him.
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The group, who lamented the steady deteriorating health of the Islamic leader and that of his wife and pleaded with the Federal Government to allow El-Zakzaky and his wife be flown abroad due to the various injuries he sustained during his ordeal in the hands of the military.
“On April 25, a delegation of expert doctors and consultants led by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) gained access to Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife for the first time and conducted initial medical investigation on them.
“Medical experts who came to Nigeria to check his health clearly stated the need for him to be taken abroad for adequate medical treatment, especially his left eye that is now riddled with bullet particles.
“The investigation revealed that the couple need urgent treatment including surgeries which can only be conducted in well-equipped hospitals outside Nigeria.
“It is a well-known development that after nearly four years of denying Sheikh and his wife medical attention of their own choice, the government finally obeyed a court order for the first time.
“We are displeased that Sheikh and his wife are still under detention despite the gravity of their injuries and their deteriorating health condition,’’ he stressed.
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The group also called on the Federal Government to respect the provisions of United Nations Human Right Charter signed by the General Assembly in December 1983 particularly, Article 27 (1) and 55 of the charter.
Mrs Ndi Kato, the Deputy National Organising Secretary of the Middle Belt Forum, also joined in the call to free the Islamic leader and his wife for medical treatment, stressing that there were still some fragments of bullet lodged in their bodies.
“The UN right charter has freedom of movement for people, freedom to get healthcare, these are all things Sheikh deserved and he is not getting it because of the brutality they experienced and for how long will this continue.
“This is a harmless law abiding Nigerian, no case of terrorism; no case of disobedience has been recorded against this man and we call on the Federal Government to please release him for medical care and give him and his wife complete freedom,’’ she pleaded. (NAN)