As the Yezidis fled in their thousands, police man Jalal Badr Piso was struggling. He and his wife had with them three kids too young to walk. With ISIL radicals at their backs, they were forced to make an almost impossible decision to leave their 4-year-old son, Aziz, and save the others.
Aziz was left behind in a hut in the hot desert of Ninava; thousands of Izadis, terrified and tired, passed by, but no one took him, as the merciless monsters were steps behind and they could face unimaginable brutal deaths if they paused.
Aziz was left alone for days in a desert that took his eyes with its blinding sun and left him paralyzed and silent.
Around August 16, Kurdish fighters found him lying on his back, alone on Mount Sinjar near the border with Syria.
Kurdish fighters brought the little boy to a hospital in Qamişlo, Rojava, the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Syria.
Severe damage was inflicted on the boy’s eyes and doctors believe it happened due to the boy being left on his back in 50 degrees Celsius weather with the Sun shining directly onto his eyes for more than a day. He was paralyzed down one side of his body and therefore unable to move out of the Sun and into the shade.
Piso, had been made aware of his son by relatives who had seen Aziz’ picture on Facebook. When he learned that Aziz was at a hospital in Rojava, he left the refugee camp to go to Aziz. Unfortunately, he was too late. Aziz passed away on the morning of his father’s arrival.
BBC spoke with Jalal Badr Piso after Aziz passed away.
[Jalal Badr Piso]:“There was a hut by the side of the road. We put him in there and left him. We could not carry him anymore. He was too heavy.”
[BBC journalist]: “It must have been a very difficult decision to make to leave one of your children behind as you fled.”
[Jalal Badr Piso, crying]: “Of course it was difficult. We just could not cope.”
A doctor with The International Rescue Committe said that Aziz died in the early hours of Thursday morning [August 28].
The time spent on the mountain had caused a swelling of his brain, the doctor added.
He had needed specialist treatment, which was not available at the hospital in the northern Syrian town of Qamishli.
SHI/SHI