Free Leah Sharibu: Nigerian Christian Woman Kidnapped by Jihadists
The Issue
Petition to the U.S. State Department to Pressure Nigeria for the Release of Leah Sharibu
In 2018, ISIS-linked jihadists abducted 14-year-old Leah Sharibu from her school in Dapchi, Nigeria. Her classmates were eventually released. But Leah was not returned because she refused to convert to Islam. She is now 23 and still held in captivity.
The International Freedom Coalition and the LEAH Foundation, the organization which advocates on her family’s behalf, are asking Secretary of State Marco Rubio to use the full weight of the U.S. State Department to bring her home.
Leah’s Story
On February 19, 2018, fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, and abducted 110 schoolgirls as hostages. Five were killed in the attack. A month later, after ransom negotiations with the government, the terrorists agreed to release the surviving girls. All, except one.
Leah Sharibu, a 14-year-old Christian, was not returned because she refused to deny her faith and convert to Islam. Once further ransom negotiations failed, in October of 2018, after having threatened to kill her in the aftermath of an escape attempt, the terrorists announced that Leah would be “a slave for life.”
Leah has been in jihadist hands ever since. Multiple girls held with her, kidnapped in unrelated attacks and later released, have reported that Leah was forcibly married to an ISWAP commander and gave birth to his third child in 2023.
On May 14, 2026, Leah turned 23. She has now spent more than eight years—a third of her life—as a captive of ISIS. Her parents, Nathan and Rebecca Sharibu, say they have heard nothing from Nigeria’s federal or state governments since the day she was taken.
Leah is not an isolated case. She is the face of a jihadist campaign against Christians across northern and central Nigeria, where churches, villages, and schools are attacked and women and girls are abducted, enslaved, and forgotten.
Why Care Now?
The United States has already acted. It has designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern, restricted visas for those who persecute Christians, and carried out joint strikes with Nigerian forces that killed a senior ISIS commander in the northeast on May 15, 2026. That pressure is working. Leah’s freedom must be part of it.
“We are grateful that the International Freedom Coalition is helping us raise awareness about Leah Sharibu’s continued captivity,” Dr. Gloria Puldu, president of the LEAH Foundation says, “and is urging the U.S. State Department to make her release from slavery a clear U.S. policy goal.”
The Petition
To the Honorable Marco Rubio, Secretary of State of the United States:
We, the undersigned, call on you to secure the release of Leah Sharibu, held captive by ISIS in Nigeria since February 19, 2018, for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.
You have spoken clearly about the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria and their persecution worldwide, and this administration has backed those words with action. Leah is the clearest test of that commitment. A young woman enslaved for her faith for more than eight years cannot be left behind while the world looks away.
We ask that you:
• Name Leah Sharibu’s release as a stated priority of U.S. policy towards Nigeria, and raise her case directly with President Tinubu and his government at every level.
• Task the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs with pursuing Leah’s case and securing credible proof of life.
• Make continued U.S. counter-terrorism cooperation with Nigeria conditional on a serious, transparent effort to locate and recover Leah and other abducted Christian women and girls.
• Use visa restrictions and sanctions against any official found to have obstructed, neglected, or profited from the rescue of jihadist captives.
• Meet with Leah’s parents, Nathan and Rebecca Sharibu, and the LEAH Foundation, and keep the family informed of any developments.
Leah has kept faith for eight years. We ask the United States government to keep faith with her.
52
The Issue
Petition to the U.S. State Department to Pressure Nigeria for the Release of Leah Sharibu
In 2018, ISIS-linked jihadists abducted 14-year-old Leah Sharibu from her school in Dapchi, Nigeria. Her classmates were eventually released. But Leah was not returned because she refused to convert to Islam. She is now 23 and still held in captivity.
The International Freedom Coalition and the LEAH Foundation, the organization which advocates on her family’s behalf, are asking Secretary of State Marco Rubio to use the full weight of the U.S. State Department to bring her home.
Leah’s Story
On February 19, 2018, fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, and abducted 110 schoolgirls as hostages. Five were killed in the attack. A month later, after ransom negotiations with the government, the terrorists agreed to release the surviving girls. All, except one.
Leah Sharibu, a 14-year-old Christian, was not returned because she refused to deny her faith and convert to Islam. Once further ransom negotiations failed, in October of 2018, after having threatened to kill her in the aftermath of an escape attempt, the terrorists announced that Leah would be “a slave for life.”
Leah has been in jihadist hands ever since. Multiple girls held with her, kidnapped in unrelated attacks and later released, have reported that Leah was forcibly married to an ISWAP commander and gave birth to his third child in 2023.
On May 14, 2026, Leah turned 23. She has now spent more than eight years—a third of her life—as a captive of ISIS. Her parents, Nathan and Rebecca Sharibu, say they have heard nothing from Nigeria’s federal or state governments since the day she was taken.
Leah is not an isolated case. She is the face of a jihadist campaign against Christians across northern and central Nigeria, where churches, villages, and schools are attacked and women and girls are abducted, enslaved, and forgotten.
Why Care Now?
The United States has already acted. It has designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern, restricted visas for those who persecute Christians, and carried out joint strikes with Nigerian forces that killed a senior ISIS commander in the northeast on May 15, 2026. That pressure is working. Leah’s freedom must be part of it.
“We are grateful that the International Freedom Coalition is helping us raise awareness about Leah Sharibu’s continued captivity,” Dr. Gloria Puldu, president of the LEAH Foundation says, “and is urging the U.S. State Department to make her release from slavery a clear U.S. policy goal.”
The Petition
To the Honorable Marco Rubio, Secretary of State of the United States:
We, the undersigned, call on you to secure the release of Leah Sharibu, held captive by ISIS in Nigeria since February 19, 2018, for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.
You have spoken clearly about the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria and their persecution worldwide, and this administration has backed those words with action. Leah is the clearest test of that commitment. A young woman enslaved for her faith for more than eight years cannot be left behind while the world looks away.
We ask that you:
• Name Leah Sharibu’s release as a stated priority of U.S. policy towards Nigeria, and raise her case directly with President Tinubu and his government at every level.
• Task the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs with pursuing Leah’s case and securing credible proof of life.
• Make continued U.S. counter-terrorism cooperation with Nigeria conditional on a serious, transparent effort to locate and recover Leah and other abducted Christian women and girls.
• Use visa restrictions and sanctions against any official found to have obstructed, neglected, or profited from the rescue of jihadist captives.
• Meet with Leah’s parents, Nathan and Rebecca Sharibu, and the LEAH Foundation, and keep the family informed of any developments.
Leah has kept faith for eight years. We ask the United States government to keep faith with her.
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Petition created on November 4, 2026