15 October 2019

'Tortured' and shackled pupils freed from Nigerian Islamic school

Police in northern Nigeria have freed 67 people who had been found shackled at an Islamic boarding school, officials say.

The pupils, between the ages of seven and 40, told police they had been tortured and abused.

Last month, more than 300 male students were freed from a similar boarding school in neighbouring Kaduna state.

Islamic boarding schools, known as Almajiris, are common across the mostly-Muslim north of Nigeria.

In a statement released on Monday, police said the boys and men were chained and subjected to "inhuman and degrading treatments". Some had been sexually abused. [BBC] Read more