500 men and boys are freed from ‘house of torture’ Islamic boarding school where they were chained up, sexually abused and starved ‘in the name of teaching them the Koran’ in Nigeria
- Police raided the Koranic school in Kaduna after an anonymous tip-off
- Eight people have been arrested over the horrific ‘human slavery’
- The men and boys emerged with chains on their feet and horrific scars
Nearly 500 men and boys have been rescued from a ‘house of torture’ Islamic boarding school where they were detained and abused for years in Kaduna, Nigeria.
Many were found chained up and the detainees, mostly children, said they had been tortured, sexually abused, starved and prevented from leaving.
Police raided a building in the city on Thursday where the victims were kept in ‘the most debasing and inhuman conditions in the name of teaching them the Koran and reforming them’, a police spokesperson said.
Nearly 500 people have been freed from a ‘house of torture’ in Kaduna, Nigeria, where they were sexually abused and tortured
The detainees, most of them young boys, emerged with scars on their bodies after police raided the building
They were pictured with horrific scars on their backs and with their hands and feet in chains after their release.
Kaduna state’s chief of police Ali Janga said it was a case of ‘human slavery’ and they raided the house after an anonymous tip-off.
He told the BBC it was a ‘house of torture’ and it is not clear how the men and boys ended up there.
Police said the detainees were from Burkina Faso, Mali and other African countries.
Bello Hamza, 42, told The Nigerian Tribune: ‘I have spent three months here with chains on my legs. I am supposed to be pursuing my Masters in University Pretoria South Africa. I got admission to study Applied Mathematics, but here I am chained.
‘They claim to be teaching us Quran and Islam, but they do a lot of things here. They subject the younger ones to homosexuality.
‘This is supposed to be an Islamic centre, but trying to run away from here attracts severe punishment; they tie people and hang them to the ceiling for that, but engaging in homosexuality attracts no punishment.’
Police who raided the building said the detainees were from Burkina Faso, Mali and other African countries
Police said the detainees were kept in ‘the most debasing and inhuman conditions in the name of teaching them the Koran and reforming them’
He also said he has seen people die from the torture during his time there.
Eight suspects have been arrested and Mr Janga said the detainees were delighted to be freed.
They were taken to a stadium to be looked after while police make attempts to find their families.
Authorities said the freed captives will be given medical and psychological examinations.