BBC Online :In 1988 Saddam Hussein dropped chemical weapons on his own people – the Kurdish residents of the town of Halabja. Thousands died and in the chaos that followed many families were scattered. One woman, a baby at the time of the attack, was brought up in Iran but recently returned to find out whether any relatives had survived.”Tonight your destiny will be clear. Everyone in the crowd wants to know who your family is.”Bizarrely, the climax of Maryam Barootchian’s search for her parents and siblings is taking place on live television, in front of an audience of millions.Gathered in the auditorium where the announcement is to be made are four families eager to claim her.For Maryam’s story is bound up with their own – all lost a baby on that day in March 1988 when Saddam Hussein’s jets swooped down and dropped a mixture of mustard gas and nerve agents on the rebellious Kurdish community. Maryam, who is now in her 20s, was a baby at the time. She was evacuated with her family by Iranian troops and taken to Tehran by helicopter, though it would be many years before she found this out.
