Survivor of Recent Beheading of 58 Eritrean and Ethiopian Christians in Libya Tells Shocking Detail of the Incident
2015-04-24 18:32:04 Written by By EPDP Information Office Published in EPDP News Read 5077 times-
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A young Eritrean survivor of the recent killings of Habesha “Christians” in Libya told the Paris-based Eritrean opposition Radio Erena that the victims were over 50, most of them Eritreans and a few Ethiopians.
Sixteen-year old Mael Goitom told Radio Erena’s Meron Estefanos in an interview broadcast live to Eritrea on 23 April that the beheadings and shooking took place on 7 March although the video of the brutal act was released a month later. According to the young witness, those shot on the head while clothed in black jumpsuits in the desert were 44 while other 14 were taken to the sea cost clothed in pink during the act of their brutal beheading.
The interviewee tells that their group consisted of 80 persons when they were stopped by the Islamist militia of IS near the city of Sirte only three days before the beheading took place. There were 8 Ethiopians in the group while the rest were Eritreans. The IS killers separated the ten women in the group and took them away. Their whereabouts is not yet known.
Of the rest, 10 minors, including the interviewee, were taken out of the group before the killings started. Mael Goitom said he and the other minors cried loudly when the killings started in front of their eyes. They were later shut inside a vehicle for the rest of the killing process. Among the killers were three Tigrigna-speaking Eritreans.
The ten minors were later joined by three Eritreans who were spared death because they could recite a few Qoranic verses. The thirteen survivors were immediately “converted” to Islam and started receiving religious education. However, other armed militias opened fire on the IS group and young Eritreans could somehow escape and finally find an Eritrean by the name of Yemane who could take them to a safe place. It appears that some of them later managed to board a boat and arrived in Italy.
Talking on the phone from southern Italy, Mael Goitom told Journalist Meron Estefanos that he and other four minors (Yohannes Mebrahtu, Yonas Gebre, Abraham Naizghi and Aman Shishay) are still in “a state of extreme shock”. During the interview, young Mael said they are now joined with a sixth roommate, Yasin Abdel Aziz, who was in the hands of IS in Libya only three months ago.
Radio Erena’s interviews are expected to release more details on the beheadings.
