By Sami Zaptia.
Tunis, 16 December 2015:
The city of Surman, only 60 km away from the capital Tripoli hit the headlines on . . .[restrict]2nd December after the morning kidnapping of three school children literally from the hands of their mother.
The road linking Surman with Sabratha was blocked last Tuesday in protest at the increased rate of kidnappings in the city. It was reopened Wednesday as it became a flashpoint between armed groups.
A cousin of the kidnapped spoke to Libya Herald giving her personal insight into the kidnapping incident and of life in Surman.
‘‘It seems like it only happens in movies’’, Nourhan Shershary told the Libya Herald, reflecting on the family ordeal. ‘’The Shershary family is well known for its wealth in Surman as well as across the country’’.
‘’My six uncles are all targets and have been wanted since 2013 and that is the same case for every other Libyan family that has worked throughout the years for its wealth. My father is the uncle of the kidnapped children, Adel El-Shershary, and is a well-known businessman and ex-member of the GNC’’.
‘’Since the end of 2013 the abductors have been unable to get a hold of either of my uncles or my father. However, they were capable of kidnapping my cousins who are only children. When things such as theft, kidnap, rape and murder occur in Libya, it is part of the norm as this is what we witness on a daily basis in our chaotic country’’.
‘’Nonetheless, this specific case has caught the attention of all Libyans, even if it is something we are now used to. We can no longer give up on our children or sacrifice them’’.
‘’It was a Wednesday when their mother accompanied her children on their way to school at 8 am with the family driver. It is her duty to always accompany her children to school and university in fear that one day something might happen”.
”That day, they had almost reached the school when a gunman wearing military clothes and a black mask that only showed his brown eyes stood in front of them. The man was around 160 cm tall, average weigh and holding to his rifle tightly”.
”The gunman grabbed the mother’s mobile phone while the she was telling the driver to beep and ask the man to move off the road so they can park in front of the school. She was assuming that he was just another average gunman seen on a daily basis’’.
However, ”the man waved with his hands across the streets shouting to someone that neither the woman nor the driver could see, screaming across the streets, not even fearing that anyone would stop him. ”Who are these kids?” he asked. Then a masked man from behind shouted back ”It seems like Riyad’s kids. Take them, they are one of the Shershary family!”
‘’As soon as those words were spoken the masked man started shooting at the car. The mother told the driver to reverse and attempt to escape, but he failed as they were stopped by another car behind them’’.
‘’The mother, in shock, knowing her kids might soon be taken from her, grabbed them tightly. Passers-by, in fear, were helpless and unable to take any action. There were women and men opening their windows from the apartment buildings that faced the location and watched from afar, screaming’’.
‘’Four cars were present at the incident. One was parked in front of them and three were parked behind them. Eight masked men came down from the Chevrolet white cars.
Some were well-built, other were under weight. But all looked like they were the same height of 160-165 cm. They opened the door and shot the driver exactly 4 bullets right into his legs so he couldn’t drive away and started grabbing the children away from their mother’’.
‘’First they began by opening the front door to take the youngest, which was 7-year-old Mohammed. Mohammed showed strong bravery that brought his mother to tears. Looking back to his mother and telling her ‘’Mother do not worry, I will be OK. Please don’t do anything silly that will get you shot. I will be OK.”
‘’He told the gunman to pull away the gun that was pointing at his head, as Mohammed turned to the gunman saying ‘’I do not fear you, I will walk to your car all by myself, put your gun down. You do not scare me and nor do you scare my mother.”
‘’The other two children, Abdoulhameed age 9 and Dahab age 12, were screaming out loud and grabbing at their mother. Their mother said Dahab might’ve been harmed by the amount of bullets shot across the streets and at the car directly because she was the hardest one to pull away as she kept pulling herself towards her mother, unable to let go’’.
‘’Mother please, please do not let them take me, please hold on to me and do not let me go” were the last words Dahab told her mom, along with Abdelhameed holding on to his mother as he was shaking with fear unable to speak without stuttering. He uttered words along the lines of ”I won’t go, they will kill us.”
‘’The aggressive inhuman gunmen opened the car doors from all sides, shooting in the air and grabbing the kids, while their mother was chasing them in the streets and begging them to leave the girl at least’ ‘Leave her to me, just leave the girl to me!” She exclaimed, hardly able to catch her breath from the morning cold and fear’’.
‘’A man from the other side laughed and screamed ‘‘Take the girl, don’t dare leave the girl!” This sent a shock through the mother’s entire body, knowing what she thought might actually happen to a 12 years old girl’’.
‘’The men shoved the two crying children into the car and left in the white Chevrolet cars. The mother started praying and screaming in the middle of the street while everyone was closing their doors, in fear of being shot at or harmed’’.
‘’A woman came running from across the streets screaming ”When will we be able to live like other humans! Why would you take three children away from their mother! You inhuman sinners!” The mother turned to her driver only to find him unconscious and bleeding badly. She was incapable of holding herself together, but she was still able to call someone to rescue her and drive her back home’’.
‘’We were all devastated. The mother wakes up every day seeing her the photos of her children on TV, and no one, including the Libyan authorities can take any serious action.’’
‘’The father received a phone call from the kidnappers informing him that his kids were safe and sound, however, their health is in very bad form. They’ have reject all food that they are given and they cannot sleep at night due to fear’’.
‘’A ransom of LD 20 million, which amounts to around US$ 6 million dollars at the black market rate, was requested by the kidnappers. Many schools and Universities were at the time shut down with children, and especially females, no longer able to receive any form of education’’.
‘’With kidnappings on the increase within Libya with every passing day, we are no longer capable of protecting our children, our men or women. We can’t leave our homes to buy grocery. Some are even kidnapped from within their homes as the gunmen are powerful enough to break into people’s houses’’.
‘’We might have the money to leave and live abroad, but that is not an excuse for the rest of the population. We cannot neglect our homelands. We need severe help’’.
‘’A child recently got released but someone helped that child escape. He described how they mistreated him. He’s in 6th grade believe it or not.’’
‘‘So much guns and shooting. Every day there is shooting and sounds of bombs going off. Yesterday they even kidnapped an old man. The road blockage was turned into a political incident. Militias started shooting and someone got killed’’.
‘‘Many people are afraid and live in fear. They don’t want to go outside their house. Many schools are closed and my cousins cannot go to their university. Prices are rising and people started to steal. People’s incomes are not enough”.
”People are going insane. Banks are closed and no-one in the media is giving it adequate coverage. No one is able to take action. People just want to live. They say we just want Qaddafi back. That’s how bad it is. There are power cuts. Everyone who can leave is thinking of leaving.’’
At the time of writing, the Shershary children had still not been returned to their family. This article is written with the blessing of the family who want the rest of the world to know what was happening in their city and in Libya as a whole. [/restrict]
