HOUSE OF HORROR IN NIGERIA

MORE THAN 300 BOYS TORTURES

IN A CORANIC SCHOOL

"Different nationalities", including minors, victims of torture and rape in a so-called Islamic teaching center.

It was a raid conducted Thursday evening in a house in the Rigasa district that led to the discovery of boys between 8 and 18 years old living in

"Inhuman and degrading conditions under the guise of teaching them the Qur'an and straightening them," said Kaduna State Police spokesman Yakubu Sabo.

The owner of the establishment and his six assistants were arrested, he said.

"We found about 100 students, including children as young as nine years old, chained in a small room, with the goal of correcting and empowering them," said Sabo, adding that many of them wore lacerations on the body.

"The victims have been abused. Some of them said they were raped by their teachers, "added Sabo. The police also found a "torture chamber" where students were hung up on chains and beaten when teachers thought they had done something wrong.

«Correction houses»

The police raid was launched following repeated complaints from neighbors who suspected that something was wrong inside the school.

The school was opened about ten years ago. It housed petty criminals or drug users that their families brought to get them back on track.

Northern Nigeria, which is predominantly Muslim, hosts a large number of more or less formal "correctional homes" providing strict religious education in the absence of public facilities to take care of young people on their own.