Police have freed about 500 more beaten, molested, and chained up men and boys from a THIRD Islamic school in Katsina, northern Nigeria.
This was the third such raid within a month, which brings the total of victims freed to more than 1,000. It comes quickly after 300 youth were freed from a second Nigerian Islamic boarding school, where they were raped, abused, and chained up.
Observers fear thousands of children are being illegally held in abusive conditions at different sites across the country. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari is facing intense pressure domestically as well as from the international community to act decisively and free these victims.
These victims had been enrolled by their families in Islamic schools to learn the teachings of the Islamic holy book, Koran. Many were also enrolled to receive treatment for drug addiction. Some of the freed victims have spoken up that they were ‘subjected to inhuman conditions,’ and were even sodomized by their teachers.
In the latest raid in Katsina, the police found men and young boys forced to stand in rows wearing ankle shackles, and some even had their hands chained. Reports published in the media reveal how these victims were tortured with images showing heart-wrenching scars on their bodies.
