[Image: a man with a white beard, wearing a suit, with an arm around him]
Part 7 of a series of posts honoring the Grenfell Tower victims.
Ali Yawar Jafari, from the 10th floor of Grenfell Tower
Ali Yawar Jafari, 82, was a grandfather of seven and one of the oldest victims of the fire. He loved animals and travel, his family said, and once he had caught a wild pigeon in order to free it from string wrapped around its legs. He lived in Grenfell tower with his wife and daughters, but became separated from them in the chaos as they realised how serious the fire was and tried to escape. His son searched rescue centers for him in the hope he had survived, but he had died of smoke inhalation after being pulled from the building. His wife and daughters survived.
His son Hamid told the Grenfell inquiry that in the months after the fire, he prayed to die so that he could see his father again.
“I have never dreamed or thought of going to heaven but now I fight every day, every second, because I want to join my dad.
“And I pray every day – and even I request my friends to pray for me – that I die soon to meet my father.”
In the days after the fire, his daughter Maria spoke to the Telegraph:
“We are really angry. There was no fire alarm. No water.
They don’t think about our safety…Money is not important. Life is important. No one can bring the life back.”
At the multi-faith memorial service for the victims of Grenfell, Maria read a poem by Persian poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi in her father’s honour.
His son has a Twitter where he posts tributes to his father.
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Sources
Grenfell Tower, three years on | Overly Devoted Archivist
June 14, 2020 @ 11:55 am
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