\u2026says killers of Shiites yet to be brought to book<\/p>\n
The United States has expressed dissatisfaction at how Nigerian courts continue to convict citizens of blasphemy, sentence them to long-term imprisonment and death.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, stated this during the release of the 2020 International Religious Freedom Report this week.<\/p>\n
He also said the Nigerian government has not brought anyone to justice for the \u201cmassacre\u201d of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria also known as Shiites.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Nigeria, courts continue to convict people of blasphemy, sentencing them to long-term imprisonment or even death. Yet the government has still not brought anyone to justice for the military\u2019s massacre of hundreds of Shia Muslims in 2015,\u201d Blinken quoted the report.<\/p>\n
He further stressed that religious freedom is a human right and the freedom is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adding that America will continue to defend freedom of faith globally.<\/p>\n
\u201cReligious freedom, like every human right, is universal. All people, everywhere, are entitled to it no matter where they live, what they believe, or what they don\u2019t believe.<\/p>\n
\u201cReligious freedom can\u2019t be fully realised unless other human rights are respected, and when governments violate their people\u2019s right to believe and worship freely, it jeopardizes all the others,\u201d the US State Secretary noted.<\/p>\n
For instance, the Shiites have for over five years been regularly taking to the streets particularly in Abuja to demand the release of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat.<\/p>\n
The couple has been in the custody of government\u2019s security agents since December 2015 after a bloody clash between members of the group and soldiers in the convoy of the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, in Zaria, Kaduna State.<\/p>\n
Many Shiites members were reportedly killed by soldiers but the Nigerian Army has since denied such allegation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2026says killers of Shiites yet to be brought to book The United States has expressed dissatisfaction at how Nigerian courts continue to convict citizens of blasphemy, sentence them to long-term…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":80734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n