The Nigerian government has committed crimes against senior Shia cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky and his followers, one of the prominent Muslim leader’s students says.

Abdullah Ahmad said in an exclusive interview with PressTV on Sunday that Zakzaky’s lawyers had taken every possible measure to secure the release of the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN).

“The government is not helping. The government itself is the one who committed crime against him (Zakzaky)” Ahmad said, noting that the Nigerian government “is the enemy.”
The government is the “stooge of America and Israel” and no one expects “anything positive from them,” he said.

Ahmad added that the cleric's “health condition has greatly improved” and that his lawyer, daughter, students and a number of friends visited him in prison.

On December 12, 2015, Nigerian soldiers attacked Shia Muslims attending a ceremony at a religious center in the city of Zaria, accusing them of blocking the convoy of the army’s chief of staff and attempting to assassinate him.

The following day, Nigerian forces raided the Sheikh Zakzaky’s home and arrested him after reportedly killing those attempting to protect him, including one of IMN's senior leaders and its spokesman.

Both incidents led to the deaths of hundreds of members of the religious community, including three of the cleric’s sons. Human rights organizations have urged a full investigation into the deadly assaults.

According to Islamic Human Rights Commission, the Nigerian military secretly buried hundreds of bodies in the graves after storming Zakzaky's house.