Adam Jordan Haseeb
Adam Haseeb would have been sixteen years old today.
He would probably be excited about learning to drive and considering what he would do with himself after he graduated from high school. He’d almost be an adult. By all rights, his mother should have been thrilled with a day like today. Any parent should be. There are all sorts of things that he should be doing right now.
But he was abducted by his father and died in an accident in Syria, along with his father. No, not a murder, but if he hadn’t been abducted he would probably be here to celebrate this day. But he didn’t see his sixteenth birthday; he didn’t even see his tenth.
Adam Haseeb’s death affected me profoundly. It still does. His death was the third in a recent series (at the time) of children abducted by a parent who were found deceased. Perhaps that was the reason it affected me so much. Perhaps it was just Adam himself – a cute little boy with short hair, ears that stick out, and a big smile. Whatever the reason, if he had not died I probably would have not spent the last seven years throwing myself into the world of parental kidnapping. He was the one that inspired me to create a section of For the Lost for family abductions, which is now by far the biggest section of the site. I named them after him and his picture is on every page of the photo directory. He is perhaps my best example of the tragedy of family abductions. I have talked to his mother on occasion. I cannot even begin to imagine the grief she must still feel, but I hope she can take comfort in the fact he is not forgotten. Until I die, I will use his story as the inspiration for work on the behalf of those children who are still kidnapped, still missed by their parents.
Happy birthday, Adam. You are very much loved.
Aja said,
March 6, 2016 @ 9:40 pm
This case has always confounded me. It just didn’t make much sense. I read that the mother as a result of false promises allowed the father custody of the child, which makes it entirely understandable how exactly the father managed to covertly obtain a passport for the boy without her consent or knowledge. What doesn’t make sense is how this born and bred US Citizen father was allowed to set up permanent residence in a foreign country without proper documents and why Syrian authorities allowed Adam and his father remain there after they were modified that the two were there illegally. Last time I checked simply converting to Islam didn’t automatically give anyone a right to set up residence in whatever Muslim country they pleased and in fact most Muslim Middle East nations have very strict immigration laws especially when it comes to foreigners without means of survival and intending to mooch off the government as Adam’s father did. I wonder if such a corrupt government even had the decency to return the child’s body to his mother for proper burial in his true homeland United States. Adam’s death was entirely preventable and his blood is on Syrian hands. Just tragic.