Female members of the Shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, have accused soldiers of raping their members before killing them, in the December clash between the sect and the Army.
The women made the allegations on Tuesday, in a press conference held in Kaduna.
Speaking under the aegis of Sisters Forum of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, they also demanded for the immediate release of their leader, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, his wife and other members of the movement.
Secretary of the forum, Hajiya Aisha Hassa, addressed journalists on behalf of the femal members of the Islamic movement.
“It is now over three weeks since the Nigerian Army launched a brutal attack on members of the, IMN, that killed over one thousand people in Zaria after over 27 hours of indiscriminate shooting and bombing.
“This is not talking about those who have been given mass burial by the Army or even corpses burnt, amongst whom are women and children, some of the women have even been raped before they were killed by the soldiers as confirmed by some survivors who were also tortured after their arrest by the Army.
“The soldiers molested our women and removed their hijab which is a serious violation of Islamic right.
“Although we are aware that it is a deliberate attempt to intimidate and instigate us into mob actions, we will never resort to anything outside the normal legal process of seeking redress. This is evident in the way we acted last year when the same Nigerian Army attacked our members and killed 34 of them including three biological sons of our leader, Sayyid Zakzaky.
“Despite this display of inhumanity and gross violation of fundamental human rights, to which no remorse was shown by the state authorities for what was undoubtedly a war crime against fellow Nigerians, the homes, Islamic centers and graves of the victims have been demolished with graves dug up and desecrated.
“These demonic acts perpetrated by Nigerian Army has not only raised the Army’s human rights abuse records but has also turned a lot of women into widows, children into orphans and has also succeeded in wiping out a lot of families.
“We call for immediate and unconditional release of our revered leader his Eminence Sheikh El-Zakzaky (H), and his wife.
“We call for the release of our husbands and children that are in illegal detention facilities across the northern states.
“Corpses of our members killed by the Army should be released to us with immediate effect for burials according to Islamic rites.
“We call on the government to summon courage and live up to its morality and accept its crime by paying diyyah to all affected families and relations,” it said.
