It is every mother’s nightmare to be helplessly watching their daughter be held captive and tortured by a dangerous organization but for one Palestinian mother, that nightmare became a reality. A woman grieving for her 20-year-old daughter, Hasnah Abu Sarhan, has made a desperate plea for help as time is running out to get her daughter back from the occupants of her home, Hamas.
When Abu Sarhan was arrested in 2016, her family was given no explanation as to why she was taken into custody, nor given access to a lawyer or even her own mother. Hasnah was then held for weeks without any contact or confirmation if she was still alive or not. All they were told is that she was brought to an undisclosed location in Gaza and no further reports were released.
But according to her now broken mother, Hasnah’s story is one of heart-breaking proportions. After weeks of no news about her daughter, Abu Sarhan’s mother was informed by a neighbor that her daughter had been transferred to a Hamas-run prison and was in terrible condition.
The neighbor had seen her dragged away, her face and hands bloodied and bruised, and she was clearly in pain.
The heartbreaking pleas from Abu Sarhan’s mother have yet to bring any action from Hamas and it’s uncertain if Hasnah is still alive. Amnesty International have taken up the cause and have joined in the fight for her freedom, reaching out to Hamas in an attempt to negotiate her release, and a medical team to ensure her wellbeing.
This case is a stark reminder of the terrible suffering many Palestinians endure every day under the suffocating and arbitrary rule of Hamas. It’s devastating to see a mother’s desperate plea for her daughter be seemingly ignored and not receive a response from those in authority.
Only time will tell if Hasnah’s life will be spared, or whether her family must continue to suffer in grief and despair. For now, all efforts to bring her back must remain focused in the hopes of finding her alive and safe.