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Shi'ites Accuse Police Of Using Nigeria's Iconic Structure, Eagle Square To Torture Free El-Zakzaky Protesters

The group also described the use of tasers on protesters as a gross violation of their fundamental right.

Members of Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) have accused Nigeria police of converting the popular Eagle Square in Abuja to a torture centre for its members arrested during free Ibrahim El-Zakzaky protesters and other Nigerians. 

The group also described the use of tasers on protesters as a gross violation of their fundamental right.

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IMN revealed this in a statement issued on Saturday by the Secretary, Academic Forum of the Islamic movement, Abdullahi Muhammad Musa.

The statement narrated how the police allegedly abducted one Naziru Mu'azu, a member of the sect on

It said the Federal Capital Territory police whisked him away to an unknown detention facility on Friday, 7th May, 2021, where they allegedly tortured him to death. 

The movement noted that all efforts to locate him were unsuccessful and that the police have refused to disclose his whereabouts or the station where he was being held.

The group said other members, including women who were arrested alongside Mu'azu were blindfolded and assembled at Eagle Square where they were tortured 

Abdullahi said the police subjected the IMN members to all kinds of inhuman and degrading treatments, using different objects to inflict injuries on them.

The statement said, "We would like to draw the attention of the public to a strange happening, unbecoming of police officers. On Friday, 7th May, 2021, around 1400 hours, the police whisked Yahuza Haruna Masaka off to an undisclosed detention facility.  

"It is quite unfortunate that the police have now reduced the Eagle Square to Inspector General of Police’s gruesome 'Torture Square' in a manner not befitting a police profession and those engaged in it.

"They accosted and arrested underage persons (both male and female) and passersby that were not protesting. They assembled them at the new 'Square' and tortured them inhumanly, even using electric shocks which led to the sudden and unfortunate demise of Naziru Mu'azu from the Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State; and 44 people sustained varying degrees of critical injury."

The group said it would challenge the arrest and maltreatment of its members and other innocent Nigerians tortured at the Eagle Square, in a court of competent jurisdiction. 

"In view of the foregoing, we condemn the conversion of the Eagle Square into IGP’s new 'Torture Square'. We aslo demand the immediate release of Mr Yahuza Haruna Masaka," the statement added.

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Islam