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04 January 2016

Refugee girl's message to world leaders

A schoolgirl who lost her home when the Islamic State (IS) drove her family out of their hometown of Qaraqosh has said she wants world leaders to "walk with love and mercy in their hearts".

Myriam, an 11-year-old Iraqi refugee, previously said in an interview that she forgives the terrorist group and prays for them.

The 2014 video of Christian satellite television channel SAT-7 interviewing Myriam went viral after she said that God loves IS and that she prays that He forgives them, too.

More than 2.5 million people have watched the short video interview and it has been translated into multiple languages, including Chinese, Russian, and Italian.

Her family were forced to live in an unfinished shopping mall structure in Erbil, but Myriam hoped she could return to school and be reunited with her best friend Sandra, and that her message of love and forgiveness would reach the world.

She is now back at school in Erbil, sharing the same desk as Sandra.

SAT-7 KIDS, which makes children's programmes for the channel, paid her a surprise second visit before Christmas, during which she told Essam Nagy, the Egyptian reporter who first interviewed her, that she prayed world leaders would have "love and mercy" in their hearts.  

Her friend Sandra added: "I want to tell them to pray to Jesus because He is everything in life. He is the one who gave them life and shields them during the hard times."

Watch Myriam's surprise visit from SAT-7 KIDS here, and find out more about the work SAT-7 are doing on their website here.