Boko Haram's
treatment of captured Nigerian girls detailed in new report
Nigerian girls have endured physical torture, rape and forced
marriages in the secret forest camps of Islamist terror organization Boko
Haram, according to a new Human Rights Watch report released Monday.
The report draws on interviews with 46 victims and witnesses of the
group's destructive actions. Boko Haram came to international attention in
April, when its fighters abducted more than 270 girls from a boarding school in
northeastern Nigeria
Dozens of the captured girls have escaped, but officials estimate
that 220 remain missing.Earlier this month, Nigerian officials claimed the release of the
girls was near after a cease-fire agreement had been reached with the group.
However, there has been no sign that the captives are close to being released,
and thirty teenage girls and boys have been kidnapped since Wednesday from
villages around Mafa town, 25 miles from the Borno state capital, Maiduguri
Escaping residents said Boko Haram insurgents abducted 80 girls and
women from neighboring Adamawa state on Oct. 18.Older women in the group were
released the following day and said the extremists kept about 40 younger women
and girls, according to the residents. They spoke on condition of anonymity for
fear of retaliation by the insurgents.In all, the group is believed to have
abducted more than 500 women and girls since 2009.
One 19-year-old told how she and her five friends were ambushed,
captured, and threatened with death by Boko Haram fighters while walking to
school. They were released after several days only after promising to convert
to Islam and give up school.
The report describes how the group, whose name means "Western
education is forbidden" in a rough translation, targets Christians and
students, threatening to beat or kill them unless they convert to Islam, stop
attending school, and wear the traditional hijab.
Other kidnapping victims are forced to take part in attacks and
carry ammunition during a battle, and some are used to lure Christian men to
places where they will be killed by Boko Haram, the report states.
The report also alleges that girls who escape are largely ignored by
the Nigerian government, despite their potential intelligence value. Human
Rights Watch claims that Boko Haram's captives have information on the group's
chain of command and its information-gathering capability, but are
"rarely, if ever" interviewed.
Last week, the Associated Press reported that people who escaped
from Bama, a town in a part of northeastern Nigeria
Residents who got out of Bama said so many people have been detained
by Boko Haram that the local jail is overcrowded and houses are being used as
makeshift prisons. Many young men have been forced to join Boko Haram, and
those who refuse are killed, said those who ran away.
People are jailed after brief "trials" for infringements
like smoking cigarettes, said Amina Bukar, a middle-aged woman who said she
hiked through the bush for five days before reaching Maiduguri
Structure of the Lead：
WHO- Nigerian girls
WHEN-27 Oct. 2014
WHAT-have endured physical torture, rape
and forced marriages in the secret forest camps of Islamist terror organization
Boko Haram
WHY-Not given
WHERE-in northeastern Nigerian
HOW-not given
Keywords：
1. abduct：劫持
2. outcry：強烈抗議
3. estimate：評斷
4. insurgent：叛亂者
5. extremist：極端主義者
6. anonymity：匿名者
7 retaliation ：報仇
8. ambush：伏擊
9. ammunition ：軍火
10. detain：拘留
i can't understand Islamic militants' thinking and i think it is not right to kidnap these girls. girls should also have same right to get education as boys.
回覆刪除i think we are lucky.we can accept education. Nigerian girls are really unfortunate. but i think the Nigerian government should not ignored the issue.
回覆刪除i think we are lucky and we do not need to worry about it. It is also a tragedy.
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