大象传媒

He was known as 鈥渢he little boy who lost everything鈥�. In 1991, Amar Kanim鈥檚 disfigured face was shown on newspaper front pages around the world, an innocent young victim of Saddam Hussein鈥檚 brutal regime. His entire family, it was reported, had died in a napalm attack. The British politician Emma Nicholson found him 鈥渁lone in the world鈥� during a visit to an aid camp. She took him to the UK. He was, the world assumed, an orphan.

Amar鈥檚 story unfolded, captured by TV cameras - a new life.

But no-one has told Zahra鈥檚 story. Zahra is a mother. She had to bury a daughter, killed in that napalm attack. Her son is also missing. But without his body, she held on to a desperate hope he might still be alive. Despite displacement and losing another son, she pressed her government, charities and the media for over 30 years to help find him, without success. Her brothers told her to give up. She says at points she lost her mind.

Then one day, clutching a picture of the missing boy, she sees a television crew. She interrupts their live TV report to share her story. This generates appeals on social media and a message is sent to Amar who is living alone, unemployed, in south-west England. 大象传媒 news correspondent Jon Kay joins Zahra and Amar as they search for the truth 鈥� to find out if they are really the missing mother and son they have each yearned for over three decades.

(Photo: Amar Kanim looking over the Iraqi landscape)