Alwaght- Responding to Nigerian president remarks that Shiite should "renounce violence", the country’s Muslim Shiite group said they have never been violent.
Harun El-Binawi, a top Shiite Muslim, fired back at the president, saying the country’s Shiite have never been violent but have been victims of state repression.
Responding to the president claims, Harun El-Binawi said “Buhari's statement (with regards to security agencies) proves correct what all human rights organizations have been saying about the monumental savagery and gross inhumanity of Nigerian security forces against (our) members,”.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari called on the Shiite Muslims to embrace peace, respect the law and not be ‘islands by themselves’.
During his New Year speech, the president approached the Shiite minority for the first time claiming the Shiite should renounce violence and become part of the Nigerian nation.
“At the same time, the law enforcement agencies must treat them humanely and according to the rule of law,” Buhari added.
His claims come as the country’s Shiite minority had been target of extensive oppression and attacks by the country’s armed forces. The most famous instance was when army units attacked a mourning ceremony in December 2015 killing dozens of people and shooting and arresting top Shiite leader, Sheikh Zakzaky.
The outspoken Muslim cleric was later brutally tortured in prison losing sight of one of his eyes. The country’s higher court later rejected the arrest as unconstitutional and ordered his release. Thought the government initially released the leader, they later relocated him to an unknown place.
