Saba

Just before 8 in the morning in early December 2007, 18-year-old Saba was riding in the bus she and her friends used to get to college in Baghdad when a young man boarded and asked to be taken to a different university. When the driver refused, the young man insisted and then pulled out a pistol and shot the driver numerous times, killing him. The man then turned to Saba and shot her as well. The bullet entered her left shoulder and exited from her back, after breaking several vertebrae and damaging her spinal cord.

Saba’s parents were notified and took her to a nearby hospital, which was unfortunately only able to close her wounds. She was then taken in critical condition to another hospital where a CT scan showed internal bleeding, forcing doctors on four occasions to open a wound in the side of her chest to allow the blood to escape and prevent it from killing her.

The day after the incident Saba was taken to a hospital in the Green Zone where she underwent four hours of surgery and remained in intensive care for five days. Upon being discharged, her family refused to return to their home because they feared being killed for receiving treatment in the American-run Green Zone. American officials declined to provide assistance in getting Saba to Jordan for treatment because she was not shot with an American bullet, so the family began to organize her evacuation themselves. Finding emergency medical flights of the kind Saba needed to cost upwards of US$16,000, they were forced to buy commercial tickets over the internet and once again go to the Green Zone to ride in an ambulance together to the airport.

Saba is in need of a special operation to inject regenerated cell tissue into her spinal cord, which doctors believe could allow her to eventually return to her normal physical condition. In addition, she is in need of regular physiotherapy, medicines, and acupuncture treatment.

DAI is attempting to provide funding for these necessities so Saba can one day be a normal university student again.

Click here to support DAI’s efforts to help Saba and other Iraqis in urgent need of assistance.