Seventeen-year-old Miriam, who escaped from Islamic insurgents, Boko Haram, has explained how she was kidnapped by the extremists and forced to marry a man and became pregnant, before she ran away from their camp.
The teenager, who spoke with a BBC reporter, narrated how she was raped repeatedly after being forced to marry the fighter.
The young woman was held in captivity by Boko Haram for six months last year, and was made pregnant by one of the insurgents whom she later referred to as her husband.
Miriam explained further how her community had rejected her since she came out of captivity because she was pregnant.
“I really hope it is a girl. I would love her more than any boy. A boy would always be known as the son of Boko Haram,” she said.
Boko Haram had attacked her village and taken her captive to a house where she was kept in a small room with about 40 other women.
Mariam stated in her story that she initially resisted any marriage, but eventually agreed after four men were brought out in front of her and had their throats slit.
“This will happen to any girl who refuses to marry,” she added.
On how she eventually escaped, the heavily pregnant teenager said it was her second attempt at trying to flee before successfully escaping.
The man she had been forced to marry reportedly left her alone, and she seized her moment. She ran away and she did not look back until she was home.
“I took something before I left,” she said, and brought out a SIM card belonging to her husband.
“My husband,” Miriam added, “If he ever sees me again, he will kill me. The men in my family are dead. I am just alone with my mum.
“God will avenge me. There’s nothing more I can say.”
Recall that the Italian government rescued some of the kidnapped girls, who were reportedly travelling by sea outside the country.
