Three Israeli filmmakers arrested by the Department of State Security, DSS have been released and on their way back home.
They were released on Monday, a statement from their families said.
Rudy Rochman, a pro-Israel activist, filmmaker Andrew Noam Leibman and French-Israeli journalist Edouard David Benaym were arrested last on July 9th while shooting a documentary in Ogidi, Anambra State on suspicion that they had come in contact with members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
One of the men entered Nigeria on a French passport, and the other two on American passports. This made it difficult for the Israeli embassy to get involved at the onset, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
The families of the three Israelis had said that local political elements had “twisted” the gifting of a Torah scroll to a local community to claim it constitutes support for separatist political ambitions.
The Israelis were in Nigeria to film “We Were Never Lost,” a documentary exploring Jewish communities in African countries such as Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda and Nigeria.
They took off from Ben Gurion Airport on July 5 and landed in Nigeria the next day.
According to locals, the crew was detained at a synagogue during Thursday night services in the Igbo village of Ogidi by Nigeria’s secret police and taken to the capital Abuja. The Igbo consider themselves a lost tribe of Israel.
In their statement, the families explained that the filmmakers had brought gifts for the communities hosting them.
The group met with Igbo leader, Eze Chukwuemeka Eri and presented him with a framed Shiviti made in Jerusalem.
Rochman also presented another Igbo community with a Torah scroll whose cover was designed by British-Israeli street artist Solomon Souza.
