CBN News | John Jessup | June 9, 2019
WASHINGTON – Until this week, Rebecca Sharibu never set foot outside of her village in northern Nigeria. Helpless and heartbroken, she boarded a plane for the very first time and traveled 9,000 miles to the United States on a desperate mission to secure her young daughter’s freedom.
Leah Sharibu, 16, was kidnapped in February 2018 in a raid at her school by Boko Haram—a deadly Nigerian terror group with ties to ISIS. In all, the group abducted 110 girls.
One month later, the Nigerian government negotiated the release of every hostage with one exception: Leah, who was 14 years old at the time she was taken captive.
Boko Haram would not let her go unless she renounced her Christian faith and converted to Islam. Leah refused and was declared a “slave for life” by her captors.
“She chose faith over freedom when it would have been so easy to cave,” said Dede Laugesen, executive director of Save the Persecuted Christians, a grassroots group that raises awareness of worldwide Christian persecution.
