Zaria Quds Day massacres

Last updated

Zaria Quds day massacres
Nigeria location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Zaria
Location of Zaria in Nigeria
Location Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria
Coordinates 11°04′N7°42′E / 11.067°N 7.700°E / 11.067; 7.700
Date25 July 2014 (2014-07-25)
Target Shia community, Islamic Movement of Nigeria
Deaths25 [1]
Perpetrators Nigerian Army

Zaria Quds massacres (or Zaria Quds massacres) refers to an incident on 25 July 2014, when the Nigerian Army opened fire on members of the Islamic Movement who were taking part in Quds day rallies, and killed 35 people, [1] [2] including three sons of Ibrahim Zakzaky, leader of the movement. [3] The Islamic Movement and Islamic Human Rights Commission claimed that Nigerian government's ties with Israel were responsible for the attacks on the pro-Palestinian group. [4] [5]

Contents

Course of events

The incident occurred barely three days after twin bomb attacks had taken place in Kaduna State. According to eyewitnesses, the demonstrators approached a military checkpoint, where they were ordered by soldiers to take another route. The demonstrators rebuffed the order and a standoff ensued. Soldiers then fired warning shots in an attempt to scare the protesters, but the protesters surged forward and threw rocks at the soldiers. As a result, the soldiers opened fire. [6]

Statements

Zakzaky said,

I am appealing to my followers to be patient and remain calm. After the burial of those killed, we will decide what action to take. I have communicated with the authorities, and they are all claiming not to be aware of the operation. It is my belief that the operation was ordered from Abuja. [6]

Ibrahim Musa, the editor of Al-Mizan, the weekly newspaper published by the group, said in a statement, "Reports reaching our news desk now indicated that some soldiers of the Nigerian army have opened fire on the tail end of the Quds procession held after Jumaat prayers in Zaria, Kaduna State. The Quds procession was held today peacefully in more than 10 Nigerian cities. Why the attack on the Zaria procession?" [7]

The Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Olajide Laleye, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the investigation would establish what happened. “However, what is already clear is that Nigerian Army troops did not initiate firing and only acted in self-defence after being fired upon,” Laleye said. [6]

Motives behind the attack

The IMN and the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), among other Islamic NGOs, claimed that the Nigerian government's close ties with Israel prompted the attack. The chair of the IHRC, Massoud Shadjareh, said:

This is a heinous act, that sadly is not isolated in the history of this event in Nigeria. It appears that Nigerian security co-operation with Israel grows year on year, with its military targeting peaceful pro-Palestinian activism. It is disgusting. We extend our condolences to the families of the deceased, who must be considered far flung victims of the latest Israeli aggression. [4]

S. M. Mohamed Idris, Chairman of Citizens International, Malaysia said:

The crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters appears to be the consideration for the security assistance provided by the Zionist regime. It is a shame that the current Nigerian government has abandoned the decades-long support of the Nigerian people and government for the Palestinian liberation struggle. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic Human Rights Commission</span> Islamic non-profit organisation based in London

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) is a non-profit organisation based in London. Its stated mission is to "champion the rights & duties revealed for human beings" and to "promote a new social [and] international order, based on truth, justice, righteousness [and] generosity, rather than selfish interest." The group was established in 1997. The organisation, since 2007, has held consultative status with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cave of the Patriarchs massacre</span> 1994 shooting massacre in Hebron

The Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, also known as the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre or the Hebron massacre, was a mass shooting carried out by Baruch Goldstein, an American-Israeli physician and extremist of the far-right ultra-Zionist Kach movement. On 25 February 1994, during the Jewish holiday of Purim, which had overlapped in that year with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Goldstein, dressed in Israeli army uniform, opened fire with an assault rifle on a large gathering of Palestinian Muslims praying in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. He killed 29 people, including children as young as 12, and wounded 125 others. Goldstein was overpowered and beaten to death by survivors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zaria</span> City in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Zaria is a metropolitan city in Nigeria, located at present time within four local government areas in Kaduna State. It serves as the capital of the Zazzau Emirate Council and is one of the original seven Hausa city-states. The local government areas comprising Zaria are Zaria, Sabon Gari, Giwa, and Soba local government areas of Kaduna State, Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Israeli operation in Beit Hanoun</span> Military offensive in the Gaza strip

In 2006 the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation "Autumn Clouds" beginning on 1 November 2006, following numerous rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel, when the Israeli Defense Forces entered the Gaza Strip triggering sporadic fighting near Beit Hanoun. The operation was the first military endeavor undertaken by the Israeli military since Operation "Summer Rains" in the summer of 2006. The operation was launched to stop Palestinian rocket attacks into Israel.

Although the majority of the Nigerian Muslim population is Sunni, there is a small Shia minority, particularly in the northern states of Kano and Sokoto. However, there are no actual statistics that reflect a Shia population in Nigeria, and a figure of even 5% of the total Nigerian Muslim population is thought to be too high “because of the routine conflation of Shi’a with Sunnis who express solidarity with the Iranian revolutionary program, such as those of Zakzaky’s Ikhwani.”

The Islamic Movement of Nigeria is a banned Shia religious organization which aims to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. It was founded by Ibrahim Zakzaky, who was inspired by the Iranian Revolution and rejects the authority of the Nigerian Government. The movement focuses on a nonviolent approach toward achieving an Islamic State, which has established some legitimacy as an alternative government. The IMN is headquartered at the spiritual center, Husainiyya Baqiyatullah, in Zaria with the group's numbers estimated around 5% of Nigeria's Muslim population of 100 million. While the main focus of the group is Islamic studies and enlightenment, Zakzaky has also encouraged his followers to pursue Western education and engage in charity work. Currently, the leader of the movement, Zakzaky, was in jail recently, and the group organized protests for his release that have resulted in conflict with the Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibrahim Zakzaky</span> Nigerian Islamic scholar

Ibraheem Yaqoub El-Zakzaky is a Nigerian religious leader. An outspoken and prominent Shi'a leader in Nigeria, he has been imprisoned several times for what he sees as injustice, especially the system of corruption in his country. Zakzaky claims that only Islam can offer solution to the complex socio-political problems facing Nigeria, which has over the years stagnated the country's development. In a lecture he has delivered in marking the occasion of Sheikh Uthman Bn Fodio Week organized by the Academic Forum of Islamic Movement, Zakzaky stated that he is continuing the Jihad of Uthman Bn Fodio to make sure that Islam becomes the ruling religion in not only Nigeria but the entirety of West Africa. In a lecture he delivered on the same occasion in Sokoko, one of his proponents, Dr. Nasir Hashim has claimed that Zakzaky’s dream is the only hope for Africa.

Shia Islam in Africa is the continent's second most widely professed sect of Islam behind Sunni Islam.

Nakba Day in 2011 was the annual day of commemoration for the Palestinian people marking the Nakba—the displacement that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948. Generally held on May 15, commemorative events in 2011 began on May 10, in the form of march by Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel on Israel's Independence Day. On May 13, clashes between stone-throwing youths and Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem resulted in one Palestinian fatality, and clashes continued there and in parts of the West Bank in the days following.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Shi'ism</span>

Anti-Shi'ism or Shiaphobia is hatred of, prejudice against, discrimination against, persecution of, and violence against Shia Muslims because of their religious beliefs, traditions, and cultural heritage. The term was first used by Shia Rights Watch in 2011, but it has been used in informal research and written in scholarly articles for decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International reactions to the 2014 Gaza War</span>

Reactions to the 2014 Gaza War came from around the world.

The Zaria massacre, also known as the Buhari massacre, was a massacre carried out by the Nigerian Army in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria, on Saturday, 12 December 2015, against Shia Muslims, mostly members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN). At least 1000 civilians were killed, with 347 bodies secretly buried by the Army in a mass grave.

The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qasim Umar Sokoto</span>

Qasim Umar Sokoto was a contributor to the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, the prayer leader and Islamic teacher in Sokoto, the Northern city of Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Mustafa Tamimi</span> Killing of unarmed Palestinian taxi driver by Israeli security forces

Mustafa Tamimi, a 28-year-old Palestinian taxi driver, was killed when he was hit by a tear gas canister by Israeli forces fired from close range and striking him directly in the face on 9 December 2011 during a weekly protest in Nabi Salih, West Bank. The tear gas canister that struck him was fired from the rear door of a military vehicle at which he was throwing stones while running after it. The incident raised questions about Israeli military behavior when engaging with the demonstrators.

The Syrian Desert campaign is a campaign waged by Syrian government forces and their allies, including Iran and Russia, against the remaining forces of the Islamic State (IS) in the Syrian Desert region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Lekki shooting</span> Massacre in Nigeria

On the night of 20 October 2020, at about 6:50 p.m., members of the Nigerian Army opened fire on unarmed End SARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos State, Nigeria. Amnesty International stated that at least 12 protesters were killed during the shooting. A day after the incident, on 21 October, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-olu, denied reports of any loss of lives, but later admitted in an interview with a CNN journalist that "only two persons were killed".

The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2021. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian civil war.

References

  1. 1 2 PM News. "Nigerian government investigating alleged killing of Elzakzaky kids, followers/" . Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  2. Gaffery, Cono (16 December 2015). "Who is Sheikh Zakzaky, Nigeria's Most Powerful Shiite Muslim?". Newsweek. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  3. Isenyo, Godwin. "Soldiers killed three of my sons, 32 others– El-Zakzaky". Punch Nigeria. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Press release: NIGERIA - 14 killed, scores injured as military open fire on pro-Palestinian demonstration". ihrc.org.uk. Islamic Human Rights Commission. 25 July 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Nigeria: Sever all relations with Israel". Islamic Human Rights Commission. 4 August 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 "35 killed as soldiers, Islamic sect clash". Vanguard. 26 July 2014.
  7. "Sheikh Zakzaky's 3 sons, 9 others died in Nigerian troops, Shiite Muslims Clash". Vanguard News. Retrieved 21 December 2015.