Dear John
I am Caroline Farrow, CitizenGO Campaigns Director in the UK. I work closely with the entire CitizenGO team in our global campaigns to defend life, family and freedom wherever it’s threatened.
Last week was emotionally exhausting for me.
I attended the High Court in London all week long to follow Tafida’s case hearing.
I talked to Shelina and Mohammed Raqeeb, Tafida’s parents every day. I have been trying to give them hope. Please, click to the picture below to see the video of my interview to Tafida’s parents (it’s in English):
I know you have been waiting for news on Tafida’s future. Will the judge let her live and go to Italy or will he decide to kill her?
I am sorry if this email is a bit long, but I wanted to give you all of the details about the legal case and what we can expect for little Tafida. I am also sharing some pictures at the end of this email.
Finally, the judgement, which was expected on Friday, is not going to be delivered until the week of the 30th September, in order for the judge to give full consideration to all the points of law.
In one way this is very good news, because if Mr Justice MacDonald had come to a definite conclusion that it was better to kill little Tafida on the grounds that it was ‘not in her best interests’ to live, then he would not have delayed his judgement.
On the other hand, this simply delays the agony for Tafida’s parents because they now have to wait a few more weeks before they learn of their daughter’s fate.
When we were leaving the court, I offered my thoughts and prayers - and indeed the thoughts and prayers of everyone around the world who is a part of CitizenGO - and told Tafida’s parents that we are all still desperately praying and willing to do whatever we can to help save Tafida’s life.
If you haven’t signed the petition to save Tafida, please sign here. http://www.citizengo.org/en-gb/lf/172220-release-tafida-raqeeb
When he was summing up the case, the judge praised the dignity and nobility of Tafida’s family... and Shelina and Mohammed exemplified this in their response; thanking us all for our efforts and support and saying to me that they had faced much worse.
They intend to spend the next few weeks round-the-clock at Tafida’s bedside as they have since she was admitted into hospital, and would have still been there over the last ten days if they hadn’t been wrenched away for court proceedings.
During the court hearing, Tafida’s mother placed a large photograph of this beautiful little girl in front of her, so everyone in the public gallery could be reminded of the person at the centre of this battle - a human being, not an abstract concept.
Tafida had the benefit of an excellent legal team who proposed some strong points of law regarding Tafida’s freedom of movement under EU law and also under the constitution of the National Health Service which allows for patients to choose which hospital they use and also to decide upon their own treatment. They also emphasised how the wishes of Tafida had not been adequately taken into account, that despite her tender age, it was clear she was attracted to her family’s religious faith and as such would have wanted to follow its tenets which would not allow for the ventilator to be removed in this individual situation.
We learned that Tafida’s mother has given up her successful career as a solicitor in order to care for her and that were she allowed to be given the treatment of a tracheostomy there would be a loving tight-knit community to take care of her.
Although the doctors had supposedly agreed that Tafida was not in any pain and had no awareness, and this was the hospital’s position, their lawyer curiously accepted today, Shelina’s testimony that there was evidence of Tafida emerging from her coma. Shelina told me outside of the courtroom in this interview we recorded for CitizenGO hat she had that very morning seen Tafida pull forwards towards her for the first time.
The counsel for the hospital then said that even if Tafida was showing signs of consciousness such as responding to pain stimuli, then she would be in a state of permanent suffering. They did not seem to consider that as well as pain she may have positive experiences such as joy, comfort, reassurance, excitement and so on.
On Friday, the final day of the hearing, the arguments moved into much more philosophical territory with Tafdia’s team discussing concepts such as human dignity and the sanctity of human life.
What the hospital had to say was truly chilling. Their lawyers argued, incorrectly, that because Tafida was unable to communicate she could not be said to have any experience or awareness of life, and therefore she could not truly be considered to be alive.
Speaking to me afterwards, Dr Philip Howard, the retired neurosurgeon who addressed the vigil for Tafida in Trafalgar Square on Thursday night, wondered whether or not a functional MRI brain scan had been performed, as no evidence to this procedure had been presented in court. A scan of this nature, would, for someone in Tafida’s condition who does not have brain stem death, look to see whether or not Tafida was actually communicating or attempting to, by posing her questions and seeing if certain parts of the brain lit up. We know that unborn babies communicate in many ways with their parents,
The hospital appeared to want to drive a coach and horses through the UN Charter on Human Rights, by claiming that because Tafida has no autonomy, she therefore does not have the most basic of human rights - that to life. Human rights are not contingent on awareness. Someone who is minimally conscious still has the most basic of human rights, by virtue of the fact they are a member of the human family.
If the judge accepts this argument, then the UK will be in very dangerous territory. It confirms the UK and the West’s rapid tide into secularism. No judge nowhere has the right to rule against the sanctity of innocent life.
A source close to Tafida’s legal team informed me of how much of the medical evidence as to the hopes for Tafida’s progress had been misrepresented. One of the arguments made was that there was an absence of evidence that she would improve. As anyone with legal experience will understand, an absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Even if there were no evidence suggesting Tafida will improve, this is still not proof of that claim!
Tafida’s legal team give the impression of being quietly optimistic. Tafida’s family are not going to give up.
No parent should have to be taken into court at the costs of hundreds of thousands of pounds for strangers to decide if their child has the right to life. It is clear that whatever happens now, Tafida’s case will have a long-lasting impact in society and in UK case law, and even all over the West.
For now, all we can do is pray and keep on mobilizing to let the court know that there are many of us concerned about Tafida’s future.
That’s why I ask you, once more, to sign our petition to Mr Justice MacDonald respectfully asking him to let Tafida live and fly to Italy.
And if you have already signed, please click here to share the petition with your friends and family.
Please let me share with you a few photos of the vigils.
LONDON
LONDON
NAIROBI
MADRID
And here is one of the adverts we placed in UK papers:
I would like to thank every single one of you who helped in whatever way you could, whether that was signing the petition, coming to the vigils, donating money or praying for Tafida.
I will update you as soon we have any news on the judgement or Tafida.
With heartfelt thanks for everything that you did.
We will carry on this fight for Tafida in all of our names.
In hope,
Caroline Farrow, UK Campaigns Director and all of the team at CitizenGO
P.S.: Let me remind you once again to sign the petition to Mr Justice MacDonald respectfully asking him to let Tafida live and fly to Italy.
And if you have already signed, please share the petition with your friends and family.