Hawzah News Agency- The statement is as follows:

“And they resented them not except because they believed in Allah, the Exalted in Might, the Praiseworthy,”        85:8

During the days on which the world is fascinated by the extent of devotion and love manifested by millions of free men and women who are mourning the 40^th day after Imam Hussain’s (a.s) martyrdom, a horrible tragedy has taken place in Nigeria; Nigerian militants have committed terrible crimes and slaughtered hundreds of innocent people whose sole crime was to hold ceremonies to mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (a.s) and express their condolences to the holy prophet Muhammad (sawa) and his household (as). The innocent Nigerians were commemorating the history of the oppressed martyrs of Karbala, yet they were brutally slaughtered and injured by the military forces.

Although martyrdom means great happiness and felicity to the innocent people, but in a world in which human consciousness is asleep, martyring the innocent brings shame and humiliation to those who commit such crimes. The so-called international human rights bodies, the Organization of Islamic Countries and Muslim governments have kept silent regarding this massacre, some of the Islamic countries even approve of such inhumane crimes. The question is, however, for what crime these innocent, oppressed people deserve to be shot and killed while mourning for Imam Hussain (as)?

I hereby ask the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as other religious and scientific centers in the Islamic world to condemn this inhumane tragedy and further make efforts to prevent other similar massacres in the future, I also ask them to make the whole world hear their call for justice; the world must be aware that Imam Hussain’s (as) legacy and his holy cause will be alive for eternity, his adversaries cannot undermine his valuable legacy or make people forget what he has accomplished.  

“ And never think that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do”   14:42