Nepal refused to repatriate the body of Samsha Sasha, 40, despite repeated attempts by people in the Kurdistan Region.
She is survived by two children who live in Nepal.
“We were on the line with the Nepal consulate [in Turkey]. They officially rejected our request. We had translated all the paperwork. The state of Nepal rejected the repatriation saying they would not let the body through at the Kathmandu airport,” said Hama Hejar, head of the Foreign Laborers Organization, noting that they rejected Sasha’s body because she had died of COVID-19.
“Irrespective of one's culture, tongue and colour, as the Kurdish nation, we held the funeral for her here in Kurdistan,” added Hejar.
A funeral service was held for Sasha at a church in Sulaimani. Representatives of all the ethnic and religious groups of the Kurdistan Region were in attendance, as well as her friends.
She was later laid to rest at a Christian-designated cemetery.
Her employer, however, doubts that Sasha had died of COVID-19.
“One morning, my mother called me informing me that Sasha was feeling tired and sick. I immediately returned home and took a taxi to take her to Shar hospital. But, she passed away at the hospital. They did not tell us anything about her death,” Bahman Rasheed, Sasha’s employer, told Rudaw on Monday.
“They referred the body to the forensic department where an autopsy was carried out on the body. They said she had died of coronavirus. But I never noticed any sign or symptom of coronavirus with this lady. Had she really died of the coronavirus, she would have at least infected one of our family members,” he added.
Khanda Abdulla, a former employer of Sasha's, remembers her fondly.
“She was a very calm and honest person. She used to act like a mother. She had a 15-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son,” said Abdulla.
According to data from the Foreign Laborers Organization in the Kurdistan Region, 25 foreign laborers died of various causes in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in 2019 and 2020.
