Shaykh Zakzaky issues message to Ayatollahs Araki and Arafi

Rasa – Shaykh Ibrahim Zakzaky, the spiritual leader of the Shi’a Muslim community of Nigeria, has issued a statement where he has offered his appreciation and thankfulness to Ayatollahs Araki and Arafi for their words and actions in support of the oppressed Shi’as of this West African country.

RNA – Muhammad Amin, the head of the Martyrs’ Institute of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria and a close associate of Shaykh Ibrahim Zakzaky, the head of the Movement, informed Rasa News Agency of a message from His Eminence to Ayatollah Ali-Reza Arafi, the head of Iran’s al-Mustafa International University and the head of the Islamic Seminaries of Iran, and to Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought.

He said, “After returning to Nigeria from Iran, I contacted Shaykh Zakzaky and conveyed the sympathy and empathy of the Iranian people with the Shi’as of Nigeria and also conveyed their attempts to release him from prison.”

Amin said Shaykh Zakzaky expressed his happiness over this support and said, “I convey my greetings to our loved ones in Iran, especially in Qom, and especially to the two honourable scholars, Ayatollah Araki and Ayatollah Arafi.”

“Ayatollah Araki has worked very hard to inform others about our oppression and Ayatollah Arafi has remembered us in his Friday prayer sermons,” Shaykh Zakzaky said through Amin.

It has been nearly eight months that the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria has been in custody following an attack by Nigerian soldiers on Shi’a Muslims attending a ceremony at a religious centre in Zaria on December 12, 2015, accusing them of blocking the convoy of the army’s chief of staff and attempting to assassinate him. The Shi’as have categorically denied the allegations.

Shaykh Zakzaky was badly injured in the raid and is in poor health condition and the Nigerian authorities resist frequent calls for his release.