The Hindu : Ali Abbas to start a new life

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 15, 2003

International

International

Ali Abbas to start a new life

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON OCT 14. Ali Ismaeel Abbas, the 13-year-old Iraqi boy who became the public face of the brutalisation of Iraq after he lost both his arms in American bombing, is all set to start a new life with artificial limbs.

Abbas, who has been fitted with prosthetic arms at a London hospital, said that he was keen to return home and "hug my sisters and the rest of my family''. "I also want to brush my teeth by myself and wash my face,'' a beaming Abbas told The Daily Mirror. He said he didn't think his new arms would look "this good'', and praised the hospital staff from doctors to the "cleaners and the coffee lady''.

"One day I hope they will come and visit all of us in Iraq,'' he said.

Besides losing his arms, Abbas was badly burnt and lost most of his family in the U.S.-led attacks on Iraq. He was brought to London for treatment after the Kuwait Government offered to pay for him and another Iraqi boy, Ahmed Mohammed Hamza, who lost a leg and a hand.

There has been extensive media coverage of their traumatic experience and civil rights groups have highlighted their suffering in their campaign against war.

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