Kaduna Court Frees 91 Shiite Members

A Kaduna State High Court has discharged and acquitted 91 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) after four years in detention.

The presiding judge, Justice Hajaratu Gwada, in her judgement delivered on Friday, acquitted the defendants of the charges filed against them by the state government.

The   members of the Shiite group were arraigned on five counts of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, culpable homicide, disturbance of public peace, and causing grievous hurt.

During their trial, the defence counsel stressed that the state government had failed to prove its allegations against them beyond a reasonable doubt.

Giving her judgement, Justice Gwada struck out all the charges filed against the IMN members and acquitted them on the grounds that the prosecutor’s failure  to prove the allegations levelled against the defendants beyond a reasonable doubt.

The state government  has rejected the judgement  and vowed to appeal it.

The freed members of the Shiite group were arrested during a clash with soldiers in Zaria in December 2015.