Morocco’s Taher Sadun discovers his son Ibrahim detained by pro-Russian separatist forces in the Donetsk region (eastern Ukraine) through a video aired by a Russian journalist working with the military.
Ibrahim (age 21), a space science student in Ukraine, told the story of his arrest in the video and said he was in Mariupol with the Ukrainian battalion. They told a woman working in the shop of their situation, and he advised her to lay down her arms and surrender, to which they agreed, so they went with her to the Russian army, where they were arrested. Mentioned at trial, which sentenced them to death.
Al-Tahir al-Sadun said his son Ibrahim had told him that he had gone to Poland after the outbreak of war, before it became clear that this was not true, and that he had stayed in Ukraine and worked with its army. He added that he was worried about what his son had done: “If I had known he would join the Ukrainian army, I would not have allowed him to travel.”
Ibrahim, who studied at the Kiev Institute of Aerodynamics and Aerospace Science, said his father had strengthened his presence on social media sites, especially YouTube, since the news of his arrest broke. Al-Taher Sadun claims that his son was recruited into the Ukrainian army, but at the same time denies that his son is a mercenary because he is a Ukrainian citizen. He broke down in tears before appealing to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ibrahim’s family hopes the death penalty will be reduced on appeal.
For their part, some of Ibrahim’s Moroccan friends claim that he joined the Ukrainian army as a soldier and appeared in photos posted on his Facebook account wearing a military uniform with a section of the Ukrainian army.
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