Alwaght-Shiite Muslims in Nigeria and Afghanistan have been tragically killed by security forces and terrorists while marking the tragic martyrdom of Imam Hussein AS.
Millions of Muslims all over the world on Wednesday commemorated Ashura, which marks the martyrdom anniversary of the grandson of Prophet Mohammad PBUH, Imam Hussein AS who is also the third Shiite’s Imam.
The faithful have converged on the streets and in mosques with heavy hearts to honor Ashura, the 10th day of the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar Muharram, which is the climax of the mourning processions.
However, Shiite Muslims in Nigeria are currently facing unprecedented persecution from the Nigerian government with some states in Muslim majority north totally banning Ashura ceremonies.
In defiance to the illegal orders curtailing freedom of worship, Muslims turned out in large number to mark Ashura. Trigger happy Nigerian forces opened fire at Shia mourners taking part in Ashura processions, killing at least 20 Muslims in the cities of Kaduna ,Funtua and Sokoto with over a hundred injured and over 300 arrested across these towns
Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) says the killings came when soldiers attacked a peaceful procession using live rounds and tear gas in the town of Funtua in Katsina state.
This year's processions have been preceded by a military build-up that is reminiscent of the run-up to the massacre last December of at least one thousand Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) supporters by the army. There has also been a spate of arrests over recent days of IMN supporters in response to a recent state-wide ban proscribing membership of the movement.
Attempts to Weaken Islamic Movement of Nigeria
As was feared, the new law appears to be being used as an attempt to further weaken the movement whose leader Shaikh Ibrahim Zakzaky remains under illegal detention arrest. Sheikh Zakzaky was shot in last December's attack and has been in the custody of Nigeria's internal security services ever since without charge.
The ban was widely interpreted as an attempt to prevent the movement's supporters from attending ceremonies commemorating the month of Muharram. The IMN has regularly led peaceful processions in the month of Muharram.
In a related development, Human Rights Watch has condemned the recent attack on the Shiite IMN and called on government to ensure accountability for violence against the group.
In a statement on Thursday, Human Rights Watch described the recent ban of the group as “The latest in a series of repressive actions by the Kaduna State government and Nigeria’s security forces targeting the group”.
“The ongoing mob attacks against adherents of the Shiite Muslims across five northern Nigeria states is the latest in a string of abuses in which government forces have also been implicated,” said the statement by the group’s senior researcher, Nigeria, Mausi Segun.
IMN has issued a statement reiterating as that despite all intimidation by the government, it will not succumb to their plot of plunging the country into needless bloodshed in the disguise of religious differences. INM spokesman Ibrahim Musa says they will keep on pursuing the legal and peaceful means we have been adopting since the Zaria massacre in December 2015.
“We will not be distracted in abandoning our quest for justice to be done in the premeditated attack carried out by the Military against the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. We therefore once again call for the immediate release of our revered Leader Shaikh Ibraheem Zakzaky from the illegal detention has been thrown into for the past ten months, including all those incarcerated with him” he said.
Meanwhile, Iran strongly condemned the attack by Nigerian forces against mourners commemorating Ashura. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi condemned the attack and underlined the need for the perpetrators of the crime to be brought to justice.
"The violent and brutal measures by extremists and Wahhabi-affiliated forces against Shias and mourners of Imam Hussein have to be stopped, and perpetrators of such acts need to be immediately arrested and brought to justice," Qassemi said.
The Iranian official pointed to reported negligence of duty by the police forces to control the situation, and reminded the Nigerian government of its responsibility to ensure the safety of mourners attending such religious processions.
Terrorists Target Shiites in Afghanistan
Iran has also condemned the deadly attacks against worshippers and mourners in Afghanistan on Tuesday and Wednesday, which killed over two dozen people.
“The massacre of defenseless mourners in Afghanistan reveals the insatiable grudge of terrorists and their supporters against the unity of the Islamic Ummah,” Qassemi said, calling on all international and regional players to seriously counter terrorism.
On Wednesday, at least 14 Afghan civilians were killed in a bomb blast outside a mosque in northern Balkh province.
The attack in Balkh, which targeted a group of Shiite Muslims following ceremonies commemorating Ashura, came a day after a deadly gun attack on Shiite worshippers at a shrine in the capital, Kabul, claimed the lives of 14 people.
Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said another 62 people, including 12 policemen, were wounded in that attack. There were three women and two children among the dead, and 26 women and three small children among those wounded, he said. The ISIS Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the mass shooting in Kabul.
Authorities had warned Shiites, who mainly hail from the ethnic Hazara community, to avoid large gatherings. In July, a suicide bomber attacked Hazaras at a public demonstration, killing 80 and wounding hundreds of others.
The attacks on Shiites in Nigeria and Afghanistan did not dampen the spirit of millions of Shiite Muslims who turned out on the day of Ashura to mark the martyrdom of Imam Hussein AS. Karbala in Iraq, where the epic battle of Ashura took place, welcomed over four million pilgrims amid tight security in the country which has been battling ISIS Takfiri terrorists.
