A Muslim group in India, Anjuman e-Haideri, has undertaken to fund all medical costs incurred by the leader of the banned Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheik Ibraheem el-Zakzaky.
El-Zakzaky arrived in India in the early hours of Tuesday 13 and was taken to Medanta Hospital, New Delhi, India for treatment.
The general secretary of the group, Mr. Bahadur Naqvi, in a letter addressed to the managing director and chief surgeon of Medanta Hospital, Dr. Naresh Trehan, offered to underwrite the medical costs incurred El-Zakzaky.
The letter dated August 12, 2019 reads: “Maulana Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky, who is a prominent Shi’a Muslim leader having a large following worldwide will be treated in your hospital.
“The executive committee of Anjuman e-Haideri, Jor bagh, New Delhi, by the direction of our chief patron, Maulana Kalbe Jawad Naqvi, has decided unanimously to bear all the medical costs incurred in India for his treatment.
“Kindly consider our request, do the needful and oblige.”
El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, were on Monday flown out on medical leave to India where they are expected to undergo treatment for multiple health conditions.
El-Zakzaky is said to be suffering from Ischaemic heart disease, chronic hypertension, right eye severe visual impairment with progressive open glaucoma, mental toxicity, lead poisoning among other illnesses.
El-Zakzaky and wife had been in detention since December 2015 when IMN members had a bloody clash with the convoy of the chief of army staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai in Kaduna.
Justice Darius Khobo of Kaduna State High Court had last week granted the couple leave to seek treatment abroad but they should be accompanied by officials of the Kaduna State government and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
“As soon as they are discharged, they will return to the country to continue with the trial,” the judge further said.
But after Justice Khobo had ruled on the bail application, the Kaduna state government said it had approached the court seeking for seven measures that would ensure that the defendants do not become asylum seekers in India.
It stated that while it respects the court’s ruling on medical leave, it “disagrees with the premises on which it is based.”
In compliance with the court’s ruling, the government filed a suit at the Kaduna High Court for strict supervision of the medical leave, as follows:
“The ministry of foreign affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall confirm the appointments of the defendants/applicants with the Medanta Hospital, India, and undertake all necessary diplomatic arrangements and protocols to ensure compliance with the conditions of the medical leave.
“Each of the defendants/applicants shall undertake to return to Nigeria to continue their trial as soon as they are discharged from the hospital, and shall also be responsible for the cost of their travel, treatment and living expenses while on their medical leave.
“Each of the defendants/applicants shall produce two prominent and reliable persons as sureties, one being a first class chief/emir of national repute and the other a prominent person within Kaduna State who shall undertake to produce the defendants whenever they are needed. The sureties must also produce evidence of landed property within Kaduna State.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria shall obtain from the government of India an irrevocable guarantee that it will not entertain any application by the defendants/applicants or any third party seeking asylum under any guise or conferring the status of political prisoners or any other status aside from being medical patients on the defendants/applicants and shall also restrain the defendants/applicants from any act inimical to the corporate existence of Nigeria.
“Each of the defendants/applicants shall undertake in writing, endorsed by their counsel, that while on medical treatment in India, they shall do nothing to jeopardise the ongoing trial, the peace and security of Nigeria and the laws of the Republic of India in whatever form.
“Security agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria shall escort the defendants/applicants and remain with them throughout the duration of their treatment in India and thereafter shall return with them after their discharge from the hospital.
“The Nigerian High Commission in India shall undertake prior vetting and grant consent before any visitor has access to the defendants/applicants while in the Republic of India.”
But the federal government discarded the new legal hurdles erected by the Kaduna State government and accepted the court’s ruling that granted the IMN leader permission to seek medical treatment abroad.
The couple was accompanied on the medical trip by a 10-man delegation consisting of six operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) operatives and four IMN members.
