Nigerian court acquits Shia leader el-Zakzaky of all charges

El-Zakzaky and wife were in detention since 2015 following a clash in which the army is said to have killed 350 people.

A Nigerian court has acquitted the leader of a banned Shia group Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) of all eight criminal charges against him, defence and prosecution lawyers said. Ibrahim el-Zakzaky had been in detention since 2015 when he was arrested after a clash in which the army killed an estimated 350 people at an IMN compound and a nearby mosque and burial ground in northern Kaduna state. El-Zakzaky and his wife, who was also arrested in 2015, had been facing a range of charges filed by the state government in 2018, including aiding and abetting homicide, unlawful assembly and disruption of public peace.