today because of

i first learned that my son had been in the world trade center on the morning of september eleventh two thousand and one

we didn't know if he had perished yet until thirty six hours later at the time

we knew that it was political

we were afraid of what our country was going to do in the name of our son my husband orlando and i

and our family and when i saw it and yet through the shock

the terrible shock and the terrible

explosion in our lives literally

we were not vengeful

on six counts of conspiracy to commit terrorism

and the u s government called for a death penalty for him if convicted

my husband and i spoke out

in opposition to that publicly through that and through human rights

groups we were brought together with several other victims families when i saw aicha in the media

coming over when her son was indicted and i thought what a brave woman someday i want to meet that woman when i'm stronger i was still in deep grief i knew i didn't have the strength i knew i would find her someday or we would find each other because when people heard that my son

was a victim i got immediate sympathy

but when people learned what her son was accused of she didn't get that sympathy but her suffering is equal to mine so we met in november two thousand and two and aicha will now tell you how that came about

introduced me to five families and i saw phyllis and i watched

and i saw in her eyes that she was a mother just like me

i was married when i was fourteen i lost a child when i was fifteen a second child when i was sixteen so the story with zacarias was too much really

so that's why i decided to tell my story so that my suffering is something positive for other women

all the women all the mothers