"We have used all
those channels to warn them [Nigeria] regarding this issue. So hopefully the
government... would adopt wise action given the sensitive situation,"
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hoseyn Jaberi-Ansari told reporters in the capital,
Tehran.
Campaign group Human Rights
Watch said at least 300 IMN members were killed and quickly buried in a mass
grave during the incident. The Nigerian military denied the claim.
Iran is currently embroiled
in a diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia over the execution of a prominent Shia
cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Sheikh Zakzaky, leader of the IMN, is inspired by
Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini.
Facts about Shia in Nigeria
Shias are minority in
Nigeria but their numbers are increasing
The IMN, formed in the
1980s, is the main Shia group led by Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky
They operate their own
schools and hospitals in some northern states
They have a history of
clashes with the security forces
The IMN is backed by Shia-dominated
Iran and its members often go there to study
Sunni jihadist group Boko
Haram condemns Shias as heretics who should be killed
Iran says it is using all
diplomatic channels to pursue the release of the prominent Shia Muslim cleric
Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky who was arrested by the Nigerian army last month.
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