- Title: Hundreds flee abusive Nigerian "school" before police raid
- Date: 15th October 2019
- Summary: KATSINA, NIGERIA (OCTOBER 15, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CLOSED DOOR OF PURPORTED ISLAMIC SCHOOL SCHOOL SHOWING WRECKAGE AND CLOTHES ON THE FLOOR UTENSILS AND OTHER ITEMS ON THE FLOOR (SOUNDBITE) (Hausa) RESCUED CAPTIVE, YASIR AMADU, SAYING "I spent three years here. I was chained and beaten almost everyday." (SOUNDBITE) (Hausa) RESCUED CAPTIVE, ABDULHAKIM ABDULKADIR, SAYING: "They brought me here because I made a mistake in school, and they gave him (my father) advice to bring me to Mallam Bello's compound, and he brought me. They kept us inside one room, with the Qur'an in front of him. He told my father that he will train and discipline us, take good care of us, and my father agreed with him. When my father left, they brought a chain and chained me." VARIOUS OF WRECKAGE SHOWING QURANIC SCROLLS UTENSILS AND PLASTIC BOTTLES VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING AROUND IN PURPORTED SCHOOL PILE OF CLOTHES ON THE FLOOR (SOUNDBITE) (Hausa) RESIDENT, UMAR GALADIMA, SAYING: "Some are not from this town, some are not even from Nigeria. People were brought from Cote d' Ivoire, France, Ghana. Niger and other neighbouring countries. So they started entering neighbouring houses then some of Malam's workers, who where taking care of the inmates started going place to place to find them and bring them back to the facility. Some of them were running for their lives, some of them even took up arms saying that if anyone came near them they will take his life. This stopped the workers of the centre from getting to them and they started throwing stones at the residents who did not know what was going on initially and did not come forward to assist them." VARIOUS OF BARRED DOORS AND WINDOW OF PURPORTED SCHOOL VARIOUS OF INTERIOR SHOWING PILE OF CLOTHES ON THE FLOOR (SOUNDBITE) (Hausa) PARENT, ALHAJI LAWAL GARKA, SAYING: " I deeply regret taking my child to the rehabilitation centre because I was ignorant of what was actually going on here. I took my child for moral rehabilitation and learning of the Holy Qur'an not knowing that he was only receiving maltreatment and punishment instead.," CHILDREN LOOKING THROUGH THE GATES VARIOUS OF SURROUNDINGS OF PURPORTED ISLAMIC SCHOOL SCROLLS SHOWING QURANIC INSCRIPTIONS
- Embargoed: 29th October 2019 21:31
- Keywords: Captives Recue Islamic School Abuse Kaduna
- Location: KASTINA, NIGERIA
- City: KASTINA, NIGERIA
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B17MLAF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of captives who were beaten, abused and held in squalid conditions at a purported Islamic school in northern Nigeria escaped prior to a raid this week, police said on Tuesday (October 15).
Nearly 300 men and boys had been at the facility in the Daura area of Katsina, the home town of President Muhammadu Buhari, where police said they discovered "inhuman and degrading treatments" following a raid to free the remaining students.
It was the second such school in less than a month to be raided by police, after hundreds were freed from similarly degrading conditions in neighbouring Kaduna state.
The 67 inmates who were freed by Katsina police were shackled in chains, and many were taken to hospital for treatment, police superintendent Isah Gambo told Reuters.
"I tell you they were in very bad condition when we met them," Gambo said.
A freed captive told Reuters on Monday that the instructors beat, raped and even killed the men and boys held at the facility, who ranged from 7 to 40 years of age.
While the institution told parents it was an Islamic teaching center that would help straighten out unruly and wayward family members, the instructors instead brutally abused them and took away any food or money sent by relatives.
Police said they had arrested the owner of the facility and two teachers, and were tracking other suspects.
The more than 200 captives who escaped were still missing, Gambo said. Police were working to reunite the others with family members.
"The inmates are actually from different parts of the country - Kano, Taraba, Adamawa and Plateau States," he said. "Some of them are not even Nigerians. They come from Niger, Chad and even Burkina Faso and other countries."
Islamic schools, called Almajiris, are common in the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria. Muslim Rights Concern, a local organization, estimates about 10 million children attend them.
While Buhari said the government planned to ban the schools eventually, he has not yet commented on the Katsina school.
After the Kaduna raid, the president called on traditional authorities to work with government to expose "unwanted cultural practices that amount to the abuse of children.
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