Slvava Atef is seventeen years in age but seven in mind, gentle, trusting girl who clung to her mother's hands as if it were the only safe place in the world. One afternoon, a police officer's son lured her away with a smile she mistook for kindness. By the time Mariam looked up, the car was hone and her daughter's cry had vanished into the street.
Hidden in the officer's home, Slvana was terrified and abused while his family looked away. Every door Mariam knocked on -Church, police, court - closed against her. A judge even claim the disabled girl had "chosen" to become Moslem and sent her back to her captor.
In the courthouse hallway, mother and daughter locked eyes for a single, desperate moment before officers beat Mariam and dragged Slvana away. After protesting at the supreme court and collapsing from Exhaustion, Mariam returned home to her daughter's empty bed and the stuffed toy that still held her shape - the last trace of a child he world refused to protect.
