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Thrown overboard: A stowaway's survival

Eritrean Jemal Damtawe spent a lifetime on the run. He crossed the globe but was still haunted by demons. Hear how he came to slay them while living under a bridge in Canada.

A boy is stolen off the street on his way to school and forced to fight in the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. After years of fighting, he escapes and stows away on a ship. But to his horror, he finds it is not much safer than the battlefield. The extraordinary story of Jemal Damtawe, the man who spent a lifetime on the run.

For many years, Uzbekistan was a particularly dangerous place to be a journalist. Speaking out against the government of former president Islam Karimov could lead to torture and a lengthy spell in prison. So it was a surprise for many when in 2004 secret messages started appearing online, containing what seemed like detailed and scandalous information about the president's household. For years, the identity of the writer was kept a secret, and the messages kept coming. Then one day, an inconspicuous football writer called Bobomurod Abdullayev was snatched off the streets by the security forces, and the secret was finally out.

(Photo credit: Getty Images.)

Available now

53 minutes

Last on

Tue 2 Jul 201903:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Mon 1 Jul 201911:06GMT
  • Mon 1 Jul 201915:06GMT
  • Mon 1 Jul 201917:06GMT
  • Mon 1 Jul 201920:06GMT
  • Tue 2 Jul 201902:06GMT
  • Tue 2 Jul 201903:06GMT

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Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected