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Cleric's murder: 112 nabbed
30/07/2007 22:07 - (SA)
Sokoto - Nigerian police charged 112 Shi'ite Muslims for counts including disturbing the peace and resisting arrest on Monday after the killing of an influential Sunni cleric in the far northwestern city of Sokoto.
Umaru Danshiya, well-known in Sokoto for his sermons against
Shi'ites, was shot in a mosque on July 18 and died the following
day.
A man was lynched shortly after the shooting and Sunni mobs
tried to attack a Shi'ite residential compound.
The Shi'ites are facing four charges: disturbing public
peace, possession of dangerous weapons, unlawful assembly and
resisting arrest. They all pleaded not guilty.
70 million Muslims
The magistrate remanded them in prison custody and adjourned
the case to August 9. Police are still investigating.
The authorities deployed troops and riot police across the
deeply religious city to stop the spread of violence after Sunni
men armed with machetes and sticks tried to attack the Shi'ite
compound to avenge the killing.
The city on the fringes of the Sahara desert is the seat of
the sultan of Sokoto, spiritual leader of Nigeria's estimated 70 million Muslims.
The Shi'ite community is a relatively recent arrival in a
city dominated by Sunni Islam for centuries. Tensions have
broken out into sporadic fighting, although the situation had
been calm for about two years before the latest shooting.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with 140 million
people, is divided roughly equally between Muslims and Christians.
Sectarian fighting between Muslims and Christians has killed
thousands of people in the past eight years but clashes between
Muslims are unusual.
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