El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenah were freed by the Kaduna State High Court in 2021 after spending over five years in detention.
The Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja has rejected an application filed by Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), also known as the Shiites’ group, asking the Department of State Services (DSS) to release his passport and that of his wife.
El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenah were freed by the Kaduna State High Court in 2021 after spending over five years in detention.
However, the secret police have failed to return their passports to them since the medical trip which was allegedly scuttled by the Nigerian government in 2018.
Both the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the DSS have also denied being in possession of the couple’s travelling documents since they were released by the court.
The cleric subsequently approached the court, asking it to compel the secret police to release their passports to them so that they can travel abroad for medical treatment.
El-Zakzaky sustained injuries including an eye injury when Nigerian soldiers stormed his home in December 2015, killing hundreds of his followers and injuring several others.
Delivering judgement on Thursday, Justice Obiora Egwuatu ruled that the Islamic cleric failed to prove that his passport was missing despite his lawyers providing 10 exhibits that the DSS took it away after his return from India in 2018.