Court sets August 5 to rule on El-Zakzaky bail

Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky

A Kaduna State High Court has set August 5, 2019, to rule on the bail application filed by the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat.

El-Zakzaky has been in detention since his arrest in 2015 despite a court order to release him.

The Islamic group, which was banned over the weekend for inciting violence, has been involved in clashes with the police in an attempt to force the authorities to free its leader.

The IMN leader and his wife applied for medical bail citing poor health while in detention.

Counsel to the applicants, Femi Falana, told newsmen after Monday’s adjournment that his clients were in dire need of medical attention.

Falana said that his clients had not been given adequate medical care since their detention on Dec. 14, 2015.

According to him, pellets of bullets were still in his clients’ bodies since 2015 and needed to be removed.

Falana said the IMN leader was not in court because his health was “very bad”, adding that even during the last appearance, El-Zakzaky could not climb the staircase to the courtroom.