Amnesty International said on Friday that Nigeria’s army killed hundreds of men, women and children from a minority Shia Muslim sect last December, but the military dismissed the rights group’s report as hasty, one-sided and biased.
Amnesty’s report relates to events in Zaria, Kaduna State, where the army has said the Islamic Movement group in Nigeria tried to assassinate its chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, when members of the sect blocked his convoy.
The following day the army said it had raided several buildings connected to the sect.
Amnesty said more than 350 people were believed to have been unlawfully killed by the military between December 12 and 14. Its report contains satellite images that it said appeared to show the location of a mass grave.
One witness, Yusuf, said soldiers set fire to a makeshift medical facility in the sect’s compound.
“Those who were badly injured and could not escape were burned alive,” he said, adding that he believed tens of people died in this way.
The report, entitled “Unearthing the truth: Unlawful killings and mass cover-up in Zaria,” contains shocking eyewitness testimony of large-scale unlawful killings by the Nigerian military and exposes a crude attempt by the authorities to destroy and conceal evidence.
“The true horror of what happened over those two days in Zaria is only now coming to light. Bodies were left littered in the streets and piled outside the mortuary. Some of the injured were burned alive,” said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for Africa.
Zainab, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, told Amnesty International: “We were in our school uniforms. My friend Nusaiba Abdullahi was shot in her forehead. We took her to a house where they treated the injured but, before reaching the house, she already died.” A 10-year-old boy who was shot in the leg told Amnesty International how his older brother was shot in the head as they tried to leave the compound. “We went out to try to shelter in a nearby house but we got shot.”
Amnesty said it carried out research in February 2016 during which 92 people were interviewed, including alleged victims and their relatives, eyewitnesses, lawyers and medical staff.
“It is clear that the military not only used unlawful and excessive force against men, women and children, unlawfully killing hundreds, but then made considerable efforts to try to cover-up these crimes,” said Netsanet Belay, an Amnesty director. “Our research, based on witness testimonies and analysis of satellite images, has located one possible mass grave,” he said.
Last week Amnesty called for an investigation after a Kaduna State official told an inquiry into the clashes that the military secretly buried 347 people in mass graves. The inquiry has the power to impose fines and payment of compensation.
Nigerian army spokesman, Sani Usman, said the Amnesty report lacked credibility.
“It is a hasty, one-sided and biased report aimed at arriving at a predetermined objective,” he said. “They must allow the inquiry and all other relevant agencies to complete and submit their reports before jumping to conclusions,” he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment