Durban - SHIREEN Mohamed’s only wish is to hold her son in her arms before she dies.
It’s been more than a year since Johannesburg photojournalist Shiraaz Mohamed was kidnapped. Although Shireen is not ill, just hoping to galvanise the captors into releasing her son, she continues to pray, not only for him but for the kidnappers and Syria.
Aid organisation the Gift of the Givers claims it is now closer to finding Mohamed.
This week, the organisation’s informant in Syria spoke to the man who kidnapped Mohamed on January 10, 2017.
Mohamed had been accompanying the Gift of the Givers to document its campaign at one of its biggest hospitals in northern Syria. But he never made it back. As he travelled towards the Syrian border, Mohamed and his driver were captured. While the driver was released, Mohamed was held.
Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman told the Sunday Tribune the organisation’s informant in Syria last week spoke to the man, whose name cannot be revealed, as it continues its search.
A video of Shireen pleading with her son’s captors to release him had been circulating in Syria, and hopefully it will be seen by his captors.
Shireen Mohamed, the mother of the captured Johannesburg photojournalist Shiraaz Mohamed, makes an emotional plea for his captors to release him.
“Please my brothers, bring my son back to me fulfil my wish and let him come home.
"We love him, we need him here at home with us. Please release Shiraaz, I need Shiraaz. My wish is to hold him in my arms before I die. Please bring him back to me,” Shireen cried.
This week, Shireen was said to have been filled with hope after news of breakthrough developments in Mohamed’s rescue mission had emerged.
Sooliman told of the long road to the latest breakthrough.
“Since (Mohamed’s) capture, the Gift of the Givers have been speaking to many people, to assess who took him, why, and whether he is alive.”
For several months after the capture, Sooliman and Mohamed’s family heard nothing, not even a request for ransom which would have given the search party a lead. But groups in Syria began to assist, and informants came forward.
“We received information that he was alive. We also had to deal with opportunists who claimed they would offer information on Shiraaz’s whereabouts in exchange for money, but then disappeared. We knew this was common in a hostage situation. Recently, people have come forward,” Sooliman said.
On January 8, a Gift of the Givers informant contacted a Syrian who offered “proof of life”. Ten questions sent by Mohamed’s family were answered by Mohamed via the kidnappers and informant, proving that he was alive.
Then, Sooliman said, he was contacted earlier this year by the South African embassy in Norway. A Syrian man who applied for refugee status claimed to have met Shiraaz.
Said Sooliman: “During his interview he told officials that he had been in the same room with Shiraaz, doing translations for a certain group. When we confirmed details with the embassy we found that this was true. The man said he had left this business behind and wanted refuge,” he said.
On Tuesday, an informant told Gift of the Givers that they had spoken with the man who had captured Mohamed, and gave details of the kidnapping.
“We are aware Shiraaz has been pushed to another group. We cannot divulge any identities of these groups yet.”
He shared the news with the family. “His mother is full of hope again. We could be closer to finding him.”