According to Reuters, out of the 35 women captured by the
Islamic state fighters in Sirte, Libya, 5 Nigerian women were
discovered to be part of the women captured and turned into sex
slaves for months by ISIS.
The 5 Nigerians, 2 children and 28 Eritreans were rescued
by Libyan forces last December but made to face detention in a Misrata prison.
After
the women were rescued from Sirte, they were investigated for
possible ties to the group and held for several months in a Misrata prison but
have now been released by Libyan authorities.
Then in
mid-February, the Libyan attorney-general’s office announced that it had
cleared the women of any wrongdoing, but their release was delayed for several
more weeks, with no explanation given.
The group
reportedly escaped from Sirte, a former Islamic State stronghold in central
Libya, when forces from the nearby city of Misrata battled to oust the
militants late last year.
Some of the women
were said to have been on their way to Europe when the Islamic State fighters
kidnapped and held them as sex slaves.
Fortunately on
Wednesday, they were all released and received by staff from the U.N.
refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Libyan Red Crescent, before being taken to a
shelter for medical check ups.
One 14-year-old
Eritrean girl said:
“I’m very happy, I can’t describe how I feel, but I am very happy,
I can start a new life and see my family again,” she told Reuters before
leaving the prison with the rest of the group on a Red Crescent bus.
A UNHCR official
said the entire group had scabies, but otherwise appeared to be in reasonable
physical condition. The agency says it expects to resettle the Eritreans as
refugees.
Samer Haddadin,
head of the UNHCR’s Libya mission said:
“We will send them to a safe house where they can be treated if
they need medical treatment, and receive assistance from us, and be protected”.
“At the same time we will be processing them for refugee status determination …
and we are doing this to make sure we can find a resettlement country for those
who meet the resettlement criteria.”
The Nigerians,
five women and two children, will be able to apply for asylum or be offered to
be repatriated.
No comments:
Post a Comment