The Nigerian Government and the Shi’ite group have been engaged in violent confrontations since the arrest and detaining of the IMN leader Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife in 2015 despite a high court order in 2016 granting his release. Tensions increased with reports of the Shi’ite leader’s worsening health related to several gun injuries and the loss of an eye. IMN and several human rights organizations held several protests demanding his release for medical care, which was eventually granted in August 2019.
Search through the ART project designed activities to address interreligious violence and weak mechanisms for seeking justice in response to religious freedom violations in Northern Nigeria which have led to a climate of fear between different religious and ethnic groups and a lack of trust in federal and state governments. The overall goal of the project is to advance the protection of religious freedom and tolerance among religious communities that reduces vigilante justice tied to blasphemy and apostasy laws in Nigeria.
