It was a day of tears and cheers as a  young native of Halabja was reunited with his family after 21 years on 3 December. A few months old at the time of the chemical bombardment of Halabja, young Ali Asmin was taken to safety by Iranian soldiers who found him lying on the ground.

 

The soldiers planned to take the infant to an Iranian orphanage, but an Iranian woman volunteered to care for him. Ali’s story is not unlike the case of many children who were separated from their families during this dark chapter of Kurdish history.

Ali was three months old when the warplanes of the late Saddam Hussein attacked Halabja and he was separated from his family. They thought he had perished along with the thousands of other victims. 

Kubra Hamid Pur, the woman who adopted Ali, is the one who gave him his name, and raised him with her two other sons in the city of Mash-had in Iran. Once he had grown old enough to understand, he was told that he was originally from Halabja and a survivor of the chemical attacks. It was then that his quest to track down his family began.

In early October, the Kurdistan Regional Government's former Minster of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs, Chnar Saad Abdullah, visited Iran aiming to find those Kurdish children who had been lost during the Anfal campaigns. There, she met Ali and brought him back to his hometown of Halabja.

On his arrival, several families claimed Ali was their own ‘lost son’. To resolve this problem, 12 DNA samples were taken from those families. The results were disclosed in a special ceremony at the Halabja memorial which was attended by representatives of chemical weapons victims, political and governmental officials along with those families who were eagerly waiting for the results. Up to 800 people gathered in the town's hall to hear the result of the DNA test. Many attendees cried as Ali embraced his mother and immediate family members.

According to the DNA test, the doctor announced that the biological mother of Ali was Fatma Muhamad Salih. “I can't say anything, words cannot describe my happiness,” she said.

Salih who had lost all her other immediate family in the attacks welcomed the arrival of the son she thought had perished over 20 years ago.

“I thank God for returning my son to me after 21 years; I lost every one in my family. I lost four other children and their father, but now Ali is like a sun for my dark house and life,” she said.

The other families that had claimed Ali to be theirs rejoiced in the news stating that they all regarded Ali as their son nevertheless and a son of Halabja.