Prologue

Ira tells the story of Meron Estefanos, a freelance journalist who in 2011 got a troubling tip: A group of Eritrean hostages was being tortured and held for ransom in the Sinai desert. Along with the tip was a phone number. Meron dialed it, and soon dozens of desperate hostages were begging her for help. Their pleas were impossible for Meron to ignore: Soon she was talking to the hostages regularly and devoting her life to trying to save them. Today’s show includes excerpts from the harrowing phone calls she recorded with the hostages. (7 1/2 minutes)