November 05, 2024 20:09 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy booked for threatening cop probing into mining case | Supreme Court upholds validity of Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Act | Not all private properties are community resources that govt can take over: Supreme Court | Pakistan's Lahore has become world's most polluted city with an AQI of 1900 on Sunday | Indian Army 'successfully completes' patrolling to a key point in Ladakh's Depsang region
Mother of terrorism victim works to ‘turn the page’ on violent extremism
Mother Terrorism
Image: IMAD Association

Mother of terrorism victim works to ‘turn the page’ on violent extremism

| @indiablooms | 26 Feb 2021, 03:18 pm

New York: A Moroccan-French woman whose son was killed in a terrorist attack nearly a decade ago, has been commended for her powerful activism countering youth radicalization, and her efforts to replace the desolation of loss with ‘a prayer of love’.

Latifa Ibn Ziaten is co-recipient of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, an honour she received earlier this month alongside the UN Secretary-General.

Her son, Imad, a 30-year-old paratrooper in the French Army, was among seven people murdered by Mohammed Merah, a self-proclaimed jihadist, during a nine-day killing spree in southern France in March 2012.

Barely a month after her son’s death, Mrs. Ibn Ziaten established The Imad Association for Youth and Peace, which promotes tolerance. 

Since then, she has worked with families and communities in France and abroad to prevent young people from becoming radicalized, spreading a message of peace, dialogue and mutual respect.

A grieving mother’s journey

Speaking to colleagues from the UN News Arabic language service, Mrs. Ibn Ziaten recalled how she travelled to Toulouse, the city where Imad was killed, to search for an explanation for this tragedy.

“I searched on my knees”, she said. “I found his blood on the ground. I took the sand between my hands and rubbed my son's blood, and said: ‘O Lord, help me, oh my God.’ I screamed out loud.”

The grieving mother also experienced something that would cause her even more pain. 

She was in Les Izards, the rough neighbourhood in northeastern Toulouse where her son’s killer grew up, and where he met his end in a police siege.

Mrs. Ibn Ziaten approached a group of young men who were hanging out on the street.  She asked them where Mohammed Merah lived.  When one responded with a sarcastic smile, she wondered if there was something wrong with her question.

“He told me ‘No, but aren't you watching TV? Do you not read the newspapers, madam?’  I said, ‘I am asking you where does Mohammed Merah live, please?’  He told me: ‘Mohammed Merah is a martyr. A hero of Islam. He brought France to its knees!’”

From anguish to activism

Mohammed Merah’s murderous rampage shocked the nation. 

Imad Ibn Ziaten was the first person he killed in a series of shootings in Toulouse and nearby Mountauban, between 11 and 19 March 2012. The other victims were two more off-duty soldiers, and a rabbi and three small children at a Jewish school. Five people were also injured.

Like Imad, Merah was the son of immigrants. But while one man chose to serve his country, the other pursued the path of terrorism. Explaining why is not so simple, according to Mrs. Ibn Ziaten.

"Unfortunately, some young people lack education, they lack the presence of parents, they lack a supportive framework”, she said. 

“There are lost youth and we have to get them back, we really have to work with them. We really have to communicate with these young people because they are the future.”

Message of tolerance

Mrs. Ibn Ziaten has been fulfilling this mission through the organization that bears her son’s name, crisscrossing France to share her testimony and message of tolerance.  She lectures high school students, parents and others who reach out to her, such as teachers and prison directors.

In his statement on receiving the peace award, UN Secretary-General António Guterres praised the mother of five, saying “her dedicated efforts to support young people and promote mutual understanding, arising out of immense personal tragedy, have won admirers at home and beyond.”

Mrs. Ibn Ziaten has carried out projects in other parts of the world. Several years ago, the Imad Association for Youth and Peace, together with Sarcelles College in France, collaborated to bring 17 young “Ambassadors for Peace” to Israel and Palestine.

The tireless campaigner has also spoken to inmates as part of a programme to prevent violent extremism in French prisons. 

‘Dream about something beautiful’

She recalled meeting one young man in particular, who revealed that he felt rejected and excluded in the land of liberté, égalité and fraternité. Mrs. Ibn Ziaten told him about how she wants to build a “fraternal and cosmopolitan France” where everyone has a place.

She also offered him words of advice so he would not “fall into this trap” of extremism, like Mohammed Merah.

“Try to turn the page,” she said. “Read. Dream about something beautiful...and when you pray, pray a prayer of peace; a prayer of love.”

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
Xi Jinping, Putin in Russia 22 Mar 2023, 02:56 pm
Related Videos