Gender: Female
Perpetrator: Islamic State - West Africa Province (ISWAP)
Religion or Belief: Christian – Unspecified/Other
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Date of Detainment: February/19/2018
Current Status: Unknown
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Disappeared
Reason for Persecution: Children’s Rights Religious Activity Religious Belief
Nature of Charges: Not Applicable
Leah Sharibu is being held in EPC custody for refusing to renounce her faith.
On February 19, 2018, the Islamic State - West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacked the Government Girls Science and Technical School in Dapchi, Yobe State, Nigeria, and abducted 110 school girls, including Sharibu. While 104 girls were returned to their families and five were reportedly killed in the abduction, ISWAP kept Leah Sharibu reportedly because she refused to comply with their demands and convert to Islam. ISWAP threatened to kill Leah Sharibu if their demands were not met. Their most recent threat has been to keep Leah Sharibu as a “slave for life.”
USCIRF Commissioners Frank Wolf and Frederick Davie, Tweet, February 19, 2024
USCIRF Press Statement: USCIRF Commemorates Leah Sharibu’s 20th Birthday and Calls for Her Rescue, May 14, 2023
USCIRF Commissioner Frederick Davie, Tweet, March 8, 2023
USCIRF Policy Update: Violence and Religious Freedom in Nigeria, September 2022
USCIRF Commissioners Anurima Bhargava and Tony Perkins, Op-ed, March 8, 2022
USCIRF Press Release: USCIRF Commissioner Tony Perkins Calls for Leah Sharibu’s Freedom on Abduction Anniversary, February 18, 2022
USCIRF Commissioner Tony Perkins, Tweet, January 24, 2022
USCIRF Press Release: USCIRF Condemns School Abductions in Nigeria, July 9, 2021
USCIRF Press Release: USCIRF Alarmed by Deteriorating Religious Freedom Conditions & Security in Nigeria, April 14, 2021
USCIRF Event: FoRB Victims List and Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project Update, February 25, 2021
USCIRF Commissioner Tony Perkins, Tweet, February 16, 2021
USCIRF Press Release: USCIRF Condemns Execution of Aid Workers by ISWAP Militants, July 28, 2020
USCIRF Press Release: USCIRF Denounces Recent ISWAP Attacks in Northeast Nigeria, June 22, 2020
USCIRF Commissioner Tony Perkins, Facebook Post, May 14, 2020
USCIRF Press Release: Tony Perkins Elected Chair of Bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, June 17, 2019