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Baby born in rubble of Syria earthquake named Aya and has new guardian

Published

4 years ago

2023/02/11

A Syrian baby girl, whose mother died after giving birth to her under the rubble of their home, during this week’s earthquake, now has a name: Aya – Arabic for “a sign from God”.

With her parents, and all her siblings killed, her great uncle, Salah al-Badran, will take her in once she is released from hospital. However, his own house, in the north-west Syrian town of Jenderis, was destroyed, too. He and his family managed to escape the one-storey building, but now he and his household, of 11 people, are living in a tent, he told the Associated Press.

“After the earthquake, there’s no one able to live in his house or building. Only 10% of the buildings here are safe to live in and the rest are unliveable,” he said, communicating via voice messages.

Rescue workers in Jenderis discovered Aya on Monday afternoon, more than 10 hours after the quake hit, as they were digging through the wreckage of the five-storey apartment building where her parents lived. Buried under the concrete, the baby still was connected by umbilical cord to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, who was dead along with her husband and four other children. The baby was rushed to a hospital in the nearby town of Afrin.

Abu Hadiya probably gave birth to the girl and then died a few hours before they were discovered, said Dr Hani Maarouf at Cihan hospital in Afrin. “We named her Aya, so we could stop calling her a new-born baby,” said Maarouf. Her condition is improving by the day and there was no damage to her spine, as initially feared, he said.

Aya is one of untold numbers of orphans left by Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, which killed more than 21,000 people in northern Syria and south-eastern Turkey. The pre-dawn quake brought apartment buildings in their thousands down as residents were roused from sleep.

But despite days passing since tens of thousands of people, or more, were trapped in rubble, rescues are still being made. In Turkey, over 80 hours after the quake hit, 16-year-old Melda Adtas was pulled out alive, leaving her overjoyed father in tears and the grieving nation cheering a rare piece of good news after Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor.

“My dear, my dear!” the father called out as rescuers pulled the teen out of the rubble of a house in Antakya, a city in one of the most affected provinces, Hatay.

It took rescue workers five hours to save her life after neighbours who had heard sounds from the splintered walls raised the alarm.

When rescuers discovered Melda, she was stuck under a wall that had collapsed.

The man leading her rescue effort was named as Suleyman, one of a group of Black Sea miners who headed south to help. Without him, said his co-workers, the operation could not have been carried out. He knows his way around dark, narrow spaces.

Working in silence to maintain contact with Melda, the rescuers removed one obstacle after another, as onlookers watched anxiously.

Then, all of a sudden, they reached the cold, bruised, young girl, but very much alive, and gently brought her to a waiting ambulance.

Once Melda was safely in the ambulance, many hugged, kissed and congratulated the rescuers. Several could not hold back tears.

“We haven’t worked for nothing, we have pulled a girl from the rubble,” one said.-The Guardian

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Presidential pardons: Govt. studying Justice Thurairaja’s recommendations – Minister

Published

2 mins ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

Thurairaja / Harshana

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara said yesterday that the Cabinet was studying a set of recommendations made by a Committee, led by retired Supreme Court judge Sithambarampillai Thurairaja, PC, regarding a systematic, fair and transparent mechanism for granting presidential pardons to convicted prison inmates.

Attorney-at-law Nanayakkara said so when The Island raised the issue in the wake of the ongoing controversy over prison authorities compelling General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Ven. Galadodaaththe Gnanasara to wear civilian attire when produced in court.

The Minister declined to elaborate but said the Cabinet of Ministers was yet to reach consensus on the recommendations. The NPP government, on 25 June 2025, appointed Thurairaja’s committee to study the provisions of the Article 34(1) of the Constitution, along with other statutory acts and judicial rulings.

Justice Thurairaja handed over his report to Justice and National Integration Ministry Secretary Ayesha Jinasena, PC.

The other members of the Committee were Deputy Minister of Mass Media Dr. Kaushalya Ariyarathne, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Justice and National Integration Piyumanthi Peiris, Additional Solicitor General Nerin Pulle, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Legal Asanga Karawita, Chairperson of the Bureau of Rehabilitation Professor Wasantha Subasinghe, Specialist Dr. Chiththahari Abayanayake, former Acting Commissioner of Prisons Nishan Dhanasinghe, Acting Commissioner General of Prisons Prasad Hemantha Kumara, Senior Assistant Secretary (Legal) to the Ministry of Justice and National Integration Roshani Hettige, and Senior Assistant Secretary to the Ministry of Justice and National Integration Chandima Welikala.

The government called for guidelines regarding presidential pardon over a year before the Supreme Court rescinded, in September this year, the presidential pardon granted by Maithripala Sirisena to Ven Gnanasara serving a six-term of rigorous imprisonment for contempt of court. That pardon was granted in May 2019, the third controversial release by Sirisena during his presidency.

President Sirisena pardoned an ex-LTTE terrorist and also the Royal Park murderer Don Shramantha Jude Anthony Jayamaha, in 2016 and 2019, respectively. The Supreme Court, in June 2024, annulled the pardon granted to Jayamaha and ordered his arrest though he still remains free having fled overseas no sooner he was granted the pardon.

News

Mahinda and Shiranthi hospitalised

Published

3 mins ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was admitted to a private hospital yesterday morning (12).

Meanwhile, former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, who is currently in remand custody at Welikada Prison, has been admitted to the Cardiology Unit of the National Hospital in Colombo.

News

Monks must be allowed to wear robes when produced in court: Mahanayake Theras

Published

4 mins ago

2026/10/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

SJB MPs meeting Most Venerable Tibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala Mahanayake Thera of the Malwathu Chapter

“JVP did not bomb Dalada Maligawa; it seized weapons from security personnel stationed there”

By S. K. Samaranayake

Most Venerable Tibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala Mahanayake Thera of the Malwathu Chapter yesterday said the President has assured that a final decision on new prison regulations would be taken withn two weeks and until then whenever bhikkhus were produced before court, they must be allowed to wear robes. The monk said the Mahanayaka Thera has written to the Commissioner General of Prisons about their decision.

The Mahanayake Thera said so when SJB MPs, led by General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara, paid a courtesy call on him.

During the meeting, the Mahanayake Thera expressed the following views:

“Currently, a massive campaign is underway on social media to insult and disrespect the Maha Sangha. Some individuals carrying out these attacks are not linked to any political party. We expected the government to intervene and completely put an end to this, which is entirely possible. Laws should be introduced to control this. The insults directed at monks must be stopped immediately. We cannot accept these acts, no matter who commits them. We even saw fabricated images circulated on social media depicting the President in robes and monks in lay attire. Such disrespect is completely unacceptable and must be curbed.

“We also know that some individuals currently representing Parliament have past ties to the Sasana. All we ask is for the mudslinging and insults targeting monks to be halted immediately. Certain elements continue to spread falsehoods about the government. Before this administration came to power, they claimed temples were finished, Buddhism was over, and the Perahera wouldn’t take place. But didn’t they just conduct the Kandy Perahera brilliantly?

“Various people are even complaining about the Casket (Karanduwa) of the Dalada Maligawa. In particular, we saw former Diyawadana Nilame Niranjan Wijeratne criticising the matter. Much of what he said was false. During his tenure, the previous casket was coated in lacquer, which nobody talks about. Replacing the old brass casket with a golden casket is a very commendable step what is wrong with that? Just as items from royal eras are retired and modern equivalents are put to use, the older casket has been given due respect and securely housed. There is no issue there. Some people claim the JVP bombed the Maligawa too. Nothing of the sort happened; it was LTTE terrorists who bombed the temple. The JVP merely seized weapons from the security personnel stationed there.”

Meanwhile, speaking during the visit, SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara and other parliamentarians charged that the current administration is laying the groundwork to turn the country into a secular state.

“It is impossible to introduce new laws for monks within two weeks; it takes much longer,” Bandara noted. “The President has the authority to issue an interim directive that any monk presented to court must appear in robes, but he chooses not to do so because he does not want to. Everyone who speaks out against this is targeted and smeared on social media, driven by a network of 2,000 to 3,000 social media operators tied to the government who attack and insult me. Even during the case of Father Mathew Peiris, who committed murder, his clerical cassock was not stripped. Inside the prison religious leaders were respected.

“The public base of this current government is rapidly eroding as a result of their actions, which is why they are attempting to strike at Buddhism to secure minority votes. Any government is constitutionally bound to protect the Buddha Sasana. We will not allow them to destroy Buddhism and turn this country secular; we will defend Buddhism to the very last, and all Sri Lankans must step forward for this cause.”

Following their meeting at the Malwathu Chapter, the delegation proceeded to the Asgiri Mahavihara, where they met the Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiri Chapter, Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanaratana Mahanayake Thera, and Anunayake Venerable Narampanaye Sri Ananda Thera to brief them on the current situation.

The delegation included SJB Parliamentarians Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Kins Nelson, Sujeewa Senasinghe, A.C. Alahapperuma, Rohana Bandara, Suranga Ratnayake, Rohini Kaviratne, Chandrani Kirielle, alongside prominent figures such as Lakshman Kiriella, Wasantha Yapa Bandara, Ranjith Aluwihare, and Professor Upul Dissanayake.