The Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, has described the report of the Judicial Commission of Enquiry into the clash between the movement and the Nigerian Army in December 2015 as biased and full of distortions.

The report had indicted the group’s leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, saying that the Islamic cleric should be held responsible for the attack for not calling his followers to order. The report also blamed the Nigerian army for the use of excessive and unnecessary force.

Ibrahim Musa, spokesman for the IMN, questioned the reason behind the commission’s indictment of the group as being responsible for the bloody clash in Zaria, whereas their leader, El-Zakzaky was never given the opportunity to appear before the commission and defend himself.

Musa argued that the failure of the commission to invite El-Zakzaky to state his own side of the story during the sittings, or visit him in Abuja where he is being detained for the past seven months, clearly showed that the panel was not fair to the movement from the beginning.

He also criticised part of the report that recommended the trial of their members involved in the killing of a soldier, as well as the recommendation that their lands in some part of Zaria which were allegedly acquired illegally be revoked by the Kaduna State government.

The Shiites’ spokesman further demanded for the immediate and unconditional release of their leader from detention, adding that the report would not stop the movement from pursuing its litigation against the Army and the federal government.