A family torn: Twenty years later, Muslim parents cleared of murder

Grief in victory

Twenty years ago, a tragic accident claimed the life of two-year old Samier, the youngest of Rehab Amer’s four children. Compounding the tragedy, the state of Michigan removed Amer’s three other children and accused her of murder, leading her and her husband Ahmed to fight to clear their names and reclaim their remaining children. This week, a judge overturned the original findings after an investigation revealed that Samier had a rare brittle bone disorder (osteogenesis imperfecta – as seen in the movie “Unbreakable“) that resulted in a fractured skull when he fell down in the bathtub. “I think now God has spoken, ” said Rehab Amer after the verdict. “I did not kill my son. My son cried from the grave for justice.” The finding, however, only increased the turmoil for the Amer family, whose children are now 18, 21, and 22 – and have been raised as evangelical Christians who now feel their birth parents are destined “to hell”, according to Ahmed Amer. “(The birth parents) should be glad for the life (the children have) had,” said adoptive mother Essie Stamper. “They’re loved by their family and by their church.” She rebutted accusations of brainwashing, claiming that she encouraged the children to know their birth parents but made no apologies for raising them as Christians. “When you adopt the child, they are yours,” Stamper said. Because the children are now 18 or over, the relationship between the birth parents and the now-grown children remains uncertain. For now, the Amers will be happy if their children do not see their birth parents as murderers. “It’s somewhat of a relief,” said Ahmed Amer, “that my children will know that their parents did not kill their brother.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.