By Nazifi Dawud
The recent raids on some hotels and joints across Kano city by operatives of the Kano State Hisbah Command have raised controversy and concerns about potential violations of human rights and the Islamic law.
Daily News 24 reports that one of the operations, conducted at some hotels and off campus hostels at Dambare community, opposite the new campus of Bayero University Kano (BUK), had led to arrest of dozens of people allegedly including students and ex-members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Video clips that have gone viral have shown Hisbah personnel engaging in what appeared to be forceful arrests, including dragging of individuals, comprising both men and women and compelling them to enter Hisbah vehicles.
A particular video clip shows Hisbah operatives breaking into private buildings and arresting a female suspect, who kept screaming that she did nothing at Danbare community.
It is understood that the Hisbah operation targeted places such as Kabuga, Dan Bare, Ahmadu Bello Way, State Road, Murtala Muhammad Way and Piccalo among other places.
It was learnt that over 200 persons, a majority of them women, were apprehended during the various raids carried out over the span of days.
Many of the women arrested during the operations said they came from various states including Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Bauchi and even from neighbouring Niger Republic.
The Hisbah authorities, who paraded the suspects before journalists at their headquarters, say the suspects were arrested for engaging in alleged prostitution and other illegal activities.
‘Hisbah violates Sharia law, human rights’
However, in the aftermath of the Hisbah raids, while many people have commended the command for sanitizing Kano state from prostitution and “immorality”, another group of people have called for a review of the strategy the Hisbah employs in doing its job.
Critics have pointed out that the use of male personnel to arrest female suspects raises concerns, as it appears to contradict Islamic teachings which recommend the involvement of female personnel when arresting and detaining women.
Additionally, the Hisbah command has been criticized for parading the suspects before journalists, potentially compromising their privacy and dignity.
A human rights lawyer, Barrister Abba Hikima, in a video statement posted on his Facebook page had praised Hisbah for its noble efforts in fighting prostituion and immorality, but called on the command to review its tactics.
According to Barrister Hikima, “I totally support the efforts of Hisbah in eradicating prostitution and immorality in Kano, but there are some issues I need to draw their attention to.
“After making investigation, I discovered a number of issues, where the Hisbah clearly violated both the Islamic and secular laws. And they need to know the implications.
“First, it is wrong to go to a persons house and start banging on their doors without a search warrant obtained from a judge. Even in Islam, you are required to seek permission of a person before going into their house.
“Again, it is wrong for a man to berge into a woman’s room even when she’s raising alarm that she was half-dressed. It is inappropriate for male Hisbah personnel to enter into a female’s room in the name of arrest. They should engage female officers to do that.
“Even in Western societies, it is not allowed for a male police officer to arrest or search a female suspect. They always use female officers to search fellow women, but our Hisbah officers have been seen grabbing women and physical throwing them into vehicles.
“The sad part was when one of the Hisbah operative was heard shouting obscenities on duty which contradict Islamic tenets of the Hisbah command. Such acts will only help in repelling non-Muslims from Islam. It doesn’t help Islam at all.
“Another point is indiscriminate arrest, where the Hisbah apprehend both culprits and innocent people under the guise that those who are innocent would released after screening at the Hisbah office.
“As a result of this wrong tactics of arrest, innocent students have missed their exams while others experienced trauma over the humiliation they suffered at the hands of the Hisbah command. This is very wrong.
“Furthermore, conducting blood tests on people without their consent is illegal. You don’t have the right to carry out blood tests on anyone even if they have any disease without their consent or the order of a judge. And even with that, you can’t reveal their identities or ailments because the health condition of a person is their privacy.
“The implication of all this is that those who felt aggrieved can sue the Hisbah and win damages which will be paid from the accounts of the Kano state government.
“Therefore, we are calling on Hisbah to do its job, but tread cautiously while doing so and ensure to protect the rights of people.”
Our operations in accordance with the law–Hisbah
However, in his response to allegations of rights violations, the Commander-General (CG) of Hisbah, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa, said the command always follows due process before conducting any operation in the state.
Sheikh Daurawa, in an interview with BBC Hausa, said the Hisbah decided to take action against prostitution because of so many complaints from residents who are neighbours with hotels or houses rented to students but turned into brothels.
“From 10pm, you will observed people carrying young girls to these places. Some of these young girls are mostly driven into prostitution due to harsh economic conditions while many others came from others states and countries,” he said.
The CG said the Hisbah command follows three steps before raiding any place where there is credible suspicion.
“First, we have to receive credible information from concerned residents about illegal activities happening in their neighbourhoods especially concerning brothels and beer parlous which are banned in Kano since we have Sharia law.
“Secondly, we then send a surveillance team to the area in order to confirm that illegal activities are happening in the area.
Thirdly, we inform the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the area of our plans to conduct an operation in the area. By 10pm, any responsible girl or woman should be at home and any person operating a responsible business must have closed by then,” Sheikh Daurawa explained.
He added that during the first operation, 26 women and 6 men were arrested in connection with alleged prostitution by the Hisbah command.
*Additional reporting by Abdurrasheed Hussain
