Hawzah News Agency- Human rights, as we know them, even from a religious point of view, have long been recognized. There was a book specifically written by one of our Imams, Imam Zainul Abidin, in which he outlined 51 rights. These include the rights of Almighty Allah upon His creation, the rights of creation in relation to others—like human beings to other human beings—and even human beings to animals and the environment, giving each its due right. So, human rights have been known to us long before the commissions of human rights or the Human Rights Declaration were made years ago. A thousand years earlier, we already had an idea of human rights.
Also, as you know, these rights have been enshrined in all constitutions of the free world, including the Constitution of Nigeria, which guarantees the right of speech, the right of association, and so on. But in practice, what we notice all the time is that those in authority think they have every right to do whatever they wish, and no one should question them. Therefore, they break these rights, deny people their own rights, and do not care.
See what is happening now: the right of association and free speech has been denied. You dare not tell the truth if it is against those in authority. They will say you have violated the right of association, or that you are making a hate speech, or they might find some flimsy excuse to accuse you of a crime you did not commit. Your real “crime” is that you have spoken freely—you have told them what they do not want to hear.
Similarly, they deny people the right to demonstrate their own ideas in public. Security apparatuses or law enforcement agents always arrest people and take them to court, accusing them of breaching a law made by the colonialists, which is no longer valid. They invoke unlawful assembly laws. Unlawful assembly existed during colonial times, but the Nigerian Constitution, which gives people the right of association, has canceled that so-called unlawful assembly—unless, after the assembly, you violate the rights of other people. You have the freedom to demonstrate and to associate, according to the Constitution and according to the conscience of the people.
And you see this right. When you come to our side, you can see that a day is set aside to show solidarity with the Palestinian people. It’s called International Quds Day. It is marked every last Friday of the month of Ramadan. This is observed all over the world, including the city of Jerusalem itself. And it is surprising—it goes physically there. It is also observed in major cities in the West, such as Paris and London, and also in the Americas—in the US, in Washington and New York, and in Latin America in particular, where some presidents have even participated. This has been observed for the last 46 years, every last Friday of Ramadan.
But here in Nigeria, whenever we participate in this demonstration, they open fire on us. I remember there was an NGO association supporting the Palestinian cause, which included among its participants Jews, Christians, communists, free thinkers, and of course, us Muslims. One thing that united us was our support for Palestinian rights.
The women were kept in Suleja prison, and the men in Kuje prison. Recently, the court exonerated them of murder. When the police take people to court, they accuse them of a crime for which they cannot be sentenced to death. They initially charged them with murder, claiming they had killed a soldier. Later, it was established that the soldier must have been shot by one of the soldiers themselves. They were exonerated of murder, yet they are still being held in prison.
during the United Nations General Assembly, a journalist asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs about this report by the Judicial Committee of Inquiry on the Zaria massacre. He said the President was following it with “rapt attention'', and that whoever was involved would be held accountable. But from the time the President finished his first term and even during his second term, nothing was done.
The Zaria massacre made our call known to the whole world. Remember, on all continents of the world, there were demonstrations demanding our release. They knew what happened.
We have shown that guns cannot frighten us because we have faced them. Pictures show people with bare hands approaching those who were shooting at them. So you cannot frighten us with guns. You can no longer do anything only with guns.
Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky: We will continue what we do. That’s all. They don’t want us. If they don’t want to see us, they will see us. They don’t want to see our gatherings, but they will see our gatherings.
In this era of social media, even if they deny us access to government television, everyone is on television now. Whether they like it or not, they will see and hear us. It is ideas we are expressing. Economically speaking, we are “selling” ideas, and people are buying. If you have an idea contrary to ours, you can also go to the market and sell it.
Source: Islamic Movement of Nigeria
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