Hundreds of supporters of prominent Nigerian Shia cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky have held rally in the capital Abuja on Friday to call for release of the IMN leader and his wife.

Hundreds of Sheikh Zakzaky supporters took part in the rally held at the city’s Garki neighborhood.

They voiced protest at the continued detention of the two and demanded their immediate and unconditional release.

Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife Mallima Zeenah have been detained and are being tried for culpable homicide for allegedly being responsible for ordering violence that resulted in the deaths of a member of the security forces during a massacre by armed forces of supporters of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) in Zaria in December 2015.

However, despite the fact that over 1000 innocent supporters of the IMN were butchered in the attack, not a single official has been charged or brought to trial over the killings.

The massacre is currently the subject of a preliminary investigation by the International Criminal Court.

In 2016, Nigeria’s federal high court ordered Zakzaky’s unconditional release from jail following a trial, but the government has so far refused to set him free.