A lost child of Halabja: Zimnako reunited with real mother after 22 years

Zimnako was about three months old on the bloody Friday of March 16th 1988, when the Iraqi Baathist regime dropped chemical weapons on the town of Halabja. That morning was the last time Zimnako's mother saw her baby boy. Baby Zimnako was taken by Iranian soldiers in an effort to save his life, not knowing his mother would also survive.

Background image is Halabja cemetery. Zimnako on the right Source: Getty Images

Zimnako was eventually adopted by an Iranian woman, a widow of the Iran-Iraq war, and already a mother of two, in a city near Afghanistan border. At the age of 16-17 Zimnako lost the only mother he knew. He was stateless and had no civil rights in Iran.

Through his continuous efforts, Zimnako's life was turned around as he was reunited with his biological mother at the age of 22 in Halabja, Kurdistan.

(From Archive)