Nine years after Insiya's kidnapping, mother still fighting to bring Amsterdam girl home
To mark the ninth anniversary of Amsterdam girl Insiya Hemani being violently kidnapped from her grandmother’s apartment, her mother, Nadia Rashid, posted a call for people to share her daughter’s story on social media. Make sure Insiya is not forgotten, Nadia asked.
Insiya was only 2 years old when multiple men violently kidnapped her from her grandmother’s Amsterdam apartment on 29 September 2016. Her father, Shehzad Hemani, orchestrated the kidnapping, and the little girl was taken to him in India. Her mother hasn’t seen her since.
Over the past nine years, Nadi has fought day and night to bring her now 11-year-old daughter home. On social media, she asked people to share Insiya’s story. “You are the driving force behind this. We cannot allow Insiya to be forgotten. Every single day, she is still kidnapped and held hostage. Every day counts.”
In previous years, Nadia appealed to Dutch politicians to help. This year, she’s asking the population at large.
Nadia will keep fighting to be reunited with Insiya. Asked if there would be a day when she’d done everything she could, Nadia answered: “If everything has been done, then she is back. And if she’s not back yet, then not everything has been tried.”
In May last year, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal upheld a ruling convicting Shehzad Hemani of orchestrating his daughter’s kidnapping. He was sentenced in absentia to serve 8.5 years in prison. Five men involved in the abduction received sentences of up to 4 years in prison.
