ICC Note:  In February of 2018, Boko Haram kidnapped 100 school girls, all of whom have been released exact for one. Boko Haram is still holding Leah Sharibu, because she refused to convert from Christianity to Muslim. A member of British parliament is now launching protest outside of Nigerian embassy in London and CNN is getting involved.

09/07/2018 Nigeria (CNN) – A British member of parliament launched a protest outside the Nigerian embassy in London to help free kidnapped school girl Leah Sharibu, who friends say is being held by terror group Boko Haram for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.

Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake is staging a sit-in outside the Nigerian High Commission in central London to put pressure on the Nigerian government, he says. Sharibu,15, was kidnapped alongside more than 100 schoolgirls in February this year. Boko Haram freed the other schoolgirls after government negotiations, but Sharibu was kept behind.

“There cannot be a clearer example of someone whose human rights are being ignored than that of Leah who is being detained just because she has maintained her Christian faith,” Brake said in an email interview with CNN.

Sharibu’s parents told CNN that the returning schoolgirls told them their daughter had refused to convert to Islam while they were kidnapped. Most of the students abducted from their boarding school in Dapchi village, Yobe State were released after four weeks.

“The girls that returned said Leah said she will not deny Christ or turn to be a Muslim,” Leah’s father, Nathan told CNN. Leah’s father said he has been humbled by the international campaign for his daughter’s release.

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For interviews with Nathan Johnson, ICC’s Regional Manager, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: [email protected]