August 17, 2021
By Mohamed Jalloh
Three Sierra Leonean women have been repatriated back to Freetown by the country`s embassy in Tehran in the Islamic republic of Iran.
In 2019, the woman left Sierra Leone for Kurdistan in Iraq in search of greener pastures. They eventually made it to Kurdistan Working as maids for almost two years. The aim of the women was to raise enough money and to increase their chances of making further travels to the heart of Europe through Turkey that is located between the Middle East and Europe.
According to reports, they had been linked to an agent in Tehran-Iran who goes by the name Hassan with whom they were supposed to stay to facilitate the transit through Turkey to Europe. A-Z gathered that Hassan and the three ladies agreed on a $2,000 deal each to facilitate their transportation and documentation that could possibly land them in Europe.
However, things did not work out as expected.
A-Z learnt that the ladies got stuck at the border between Iran and Iraq when they could not reach out to Hassan who was supposed to pick them up somewhere around the border. After repeated calls to contact Hassan’s it became clear that his phone was switched off.
The ladies explained of been robbed and their possessions were carted away by unidentified men. They were later arrested and placed in cells by security officials for few days until they were officially handed over to the International Organization of Migration (IMO) that established contact with the Sierra Leone embassy in Tehran. In the end, the embassy ensured their safe repatriation back to their home country Sierra Leone.
It should be noted that many Sierra Leonean girls embark on such perilous journeys with the desperate hope to escape poverty back home. Some unlucky ones normally fall prey to people traffickers who exploit them as sex slaves.