ICC Note: Leah Sharibu’s parents have called for an international petition for their daughter. Leah has been held in Boko Haram captivity for her faith since February 19.

09/04/2018 Nigeria (World Watch Monitor) – he parents of the Nigerian girl, Leah Sharibu, held by Boko Haram, say they have renewed hope that she might safely return home after a short audio recording her kidnappers released last week.

In the 35 seconds-long recording, the Christian teenager asks for help for her family and herself, calling on Nigeria’s president to intervene and help facilitate her release. A photo shows her sitting on a pink patterned carpet in a hijab.

“When I heard her voice and saw the picture where she is sitting down with a hijab on, I began to cry,” her mother told World Watch Monitor in a phone call. “Oh God, see my little Leah, she has been forced to wear hijab, God please bring her back to me, I kept lamenting as I cried.”

“As a mother it has not been easy for me at all [but] this audio recording has brought hope to me and I believe that her freedom is on the way,” she said.

It’s been more than six months since 15-year old Leah disappeared. She was the only Christian among 109 girls who were abducted by an Islamist group, believed to be a break-away faction from Boko Haram, during a raid on their school in Dapchi, in the north-eastern state of Yobe.

The group later released 104, with the last five then thought to have died in captivity.

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