Cleric Pledges Iran’s Support for Sheikh Zakzaky’s Treatment
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The secretary general of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought (WFPIST) assured Nigerian Muslim leader Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky that Iran would do its utmost to help the process of his medical treatment.
On Thursday morning, WFPIST Secretary General Ayatollah Mohsen Araki had a telephone conversation with Sheikh Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) who is in India to receive medical treatment.
Learning about the physical and mental conditions of the ailing Nigerian cleric, Ayatollah Araki voiced concern about Sheikh Zakzaky’s health, and gave him an assurance that both Iran and the WFPIST would make every effort to contribute to the process of his medical treatment.
The Nigerian Muslim leader, for his part, expressed gratitude to Iran for its helpful efforts, saying the course of his treatment at New Delhi's Medanta hospital has not still begun.
According to Ayatollah Araki, Sheikh Zakzaky’s morale was high.
Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife flew out of Nigeria on Tuesday to get medical treatment in India.
The Arabic-language al-Ahed new agency reported on Wednesday that Sheikh Zakzaky has decided to leave India because the severe security restrictions have adversely affected the course of his medical treatment.
The top Shiite cleric has been held in detention since December 2015 and was charged just in April 2018 with murder, culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disruption of public peace and other accusations. He has pleaded not guilty.
Zakzaky has lost his left eyesight in a raid by the Nigerian army on his residence in the northern town of Zaria in December 2015.
During the raid, the cleric’s wife sustained serious wounds too and more than 300 of his followers and three of his sons were killed.