Nigeria allows Shia leader to go to India for treatment

A court in Nigeria has allowed jailed Shia cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky to go to India for treatment after paying bail.

A court in Nigeria has allowed jailed Shia cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky to go to India for treatment after paying bail.

“The judge ruled that Zakzaky could travel to India for medical treatment, and Zakzaky’s wife was also allowed to leave Nigeria with him,” lawyer Vimi Fallana was quoted as saying.

Zakzaky and his wife did not attend Monday’s session in Kaduna, north of the country, “because they were too sick to be brought to court,” the lawyer said.

Fallana said there were documents to be signed before Zakzaky and his wife were released.

The Nigerian authorities arrested Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, in December 2015, and he is still held in an unknown location despite the verdict of his release in December 2016.

Human rights groups say some 400 supporters of Zakzaky have been killed in clashes with police since 2015.