Nigerian Shiite group vows to petition terrorist label

The Islamic Movement of Nigeria has condemned moves to label the group, a terrorist organization.

Over the weekend, an Abuja court ordered the government to ban the radical shiite group on terrorism grounds after a spate of deadly protests in the capital.

“IMN (Islamic Movement of Nigeria) is a tendency, it is not an organization. It has never been registered anywhere in any state of the federation. Therefore it does not exist legally. It’s not a legal body and therefore cannot be proscribed. We are going to appeal and inform the judge who did that that he did it out of ignorance”, Yahiya Dahiru,a senior IMN official told a press conference Sunday.

The Nigerian government on Sunday banned the group after what it says are repeated warnings against using religion to flout laws.

At least six protesters including a journalist and a police officer were killed Monday in a violence that broke out during a march organized by the group.

The religious group was born as a student movement in 1978.

It moved to become a revolutionary group inspired by the Islamic revolution in Iran. AFP reports that the group is still close to Tehran and arouses hostility in Africa’s most populous nation.

AFP