Video: Migrants escape Libyan hell by launching a WhatsApp call
October 16, 2018
Video screenshot
On July 17, 2018, the editors of Les Observateurs received this video. Inside their cell, two Nigerians show and comment on their living conditions in the Al Nasr detention center in Zawiya, Libya.
Efe Onyeka, 25, is the man who filmed the video. He is now back in Nigeria, in the Delta State. He tells The Observateurs/France 24 how he managed to film the inside of the detention center.
"Other prisoners smuggled the phone into the prison, hiding it from the guards, because phones are forbidden inside.
When we got it, we chatted with our families and friends on WhatsApp. When I told him what we were going through, a friend of mine suggested I make a video to call for help. I thought it was a good idea. So I spoke to my 31 cellmates and all agreed to make a video despite the risks.
At the end of the video, we said that if the guards learned what we had done, we would have very big problems. And that's actually what happened. We were all beaten and starved, especially the six Nigerians in our cell. But they were particularly keen on Frank ..."
Read more: France 24, Les Observateurs