Nigeria court rejects Shia cleric’s lawsuit against army

A Nigerian court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, the jailed Shia community leader, against the country’s military over its human rights violations. 

A Nigerian court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, the jailed Shia community leader, against the country’s military over its human rights violations. 

 The Federal High Court in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna on Friday rejected the suit by the prominent Shia cleric, who was seeking 5.6 million dollars in damages over the 2015 attacks by army troopers that led to the killing of some 350 of his followers in the northern city of Zaria, including his three children. 

 Zakzaky was himself brutally injured, and his house was reportedly destroyed by the Nigerian army in the attack. He has been in custody ever since. 

 A justice said the lawsuit was rejected for “abuse of court processes” as it had been determined earlier by another court in the capital, Abuja. 

 The Shia community leader and his wife have spent nearly 18 months in custody since the clashes on December 14, 2015. An Abuja court denounced the detention of Zakzaky and his followers as illegal and unconstitutional, imposing a 45-day deadline for their release. The Nigerian government appealed the judgment.