“Doctors can’t help me,” she says.
She and her husband are in their
home country, Germany, but their son Andreas (“Andy”) Martin Muller, his
Eritrea-born wife, and their nine-year-old daughter, are still missing after
disappearing in the summer of 2011. They are believed to be in Somalia.
Andy converted to Islam in 1999
and is believed to be with the Al-Shabaab group.
“My son went to Somalia for his
daughter’s sake,” insists Michaela. “He wanted her to live in a Muslim
society.”
Michaela does not believe her son
is a terrorist. “He is not the fighting type,” she says, “and has never even touched
a weapon. He wouldn’t kill a fly.” Before Andy left for Germany in 2011, he was
a clean-living, law-abiding citizen with no criminal record and no history of
violence.
However, in 2012 and 2013, Andy
was the subject of two massive police hunts in Kenya and Uganda, and was reported
to have sneaked in these countries to engage in acts of terror. “The Kenyan
police has cause to believe that this man [Andy] has information about the
activities of Al-Shabaab,” a police statement said.
Then, in the fall of 2013, after
Al-Shabaab’s devastating attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenyan police named
Andy and British-born Samantha Lewthwaite, best known as “The White Widow,” as
their main suspects. The police would later backtrack from that assessment.
Four gunmen were involved in the attack and they all died. The Kenyan
authorities also arrested and charged four Somalis in Eastleigh for providing
material support to the attackers.
Andy subsequently phoned Michaela
and strongly denied any involvement in the terror attack. “Mummy, it is not
true,” he said. “Don’t believe it.” Moreover, according to Michaela, Andy was
in Somalia on the day of the attack and had called her twice. “He was shocked,”
says Michaela.
Michaela still remembers her
son’s serene childhood growing up in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
“Andy played the trombone in our church until he turned 19,” she reminisces. He
had an upbeat personality and “to everybody, he was the most loved, sweet
little boy.” Michaela says he always had the best grades in school.
Andy’s conversion to Islam sent
shockwaves through the family, especially as he had been raised in a tight-knit,
Christian household. However, his parents accepted his choice of religion and
were very understanding. He started calling himself Ahmed Khalid Muller and
decided to leave Germany and live in a Muslim country. His parents could not
understand why their son would leave his native country where many Muslims —
Germans and immigrants — live together peacefully.
Sometime in September 2011, after
unsuccessfully trying to emigrate to Bosnia and the United Arab Emirates, Andy
entered Somalia with his wife and daughter through Kenya’s porous border. No one
has heard of the family’s whereabouts. It is as they have fallen off the radar,
his mother explains. It is still unclear why Andy entered Somalia and whether
his intention was to settle peacefully there or pursue a darker agenda. He
might be in the Lower Juba, the only region in the country where Al-Shabaab is
in control.
The most heartbreaking moment for
Michaela was when she spoke to her granddaughter. The little girl asked her if
she could “come and see her” in Somalia. It was an emotionally wrenching phone
call for Michaela who heard that her granddaughter had developed malaria pout in
Somalia and was treated by a traditional medicine man with honey and plants. The
thought of her grandchild living in a small village or in the bushes with no
modern amenities still terrifies Michaela.
Michaela worries constantly of
her son and his family. Every time a drone strikes Somalia, she becomes
consumed with fear, and Andy’s continuous presence in Somalia has her in
emotional handcuffs. “Since September, 2011, I have been suffering day and
night,” she says. “I wait and sit holding my mobile phone, but it never rings.”
She confesses that she often despairs of seeing Andy again, and doesn’t know
how to deal with it. “Sometimes, I feel I should die during the night and never
wake up again,” she adds.
As a child, Michaela wanted to
visit Somalia: “A beautiful land, with wonderful people and the most beautiful
women on the globe.” She respects and admires Islam and has read about it
extensively. She once challenged Andy on
why he was defying his parents and being unkind and inconsiderate to them when
Islam teaches that paradise is under the feet of mothers. His response was
immediate and brutal: “You are Kaffir
(infidel) — that is the difference.” Michaela knows Andy is wrong and misguided.
She says her son has been brainwashed. “Al-Shabaab people have nothing to do
with the wonderful religion of Islam,” she says.
Michaela, her husband, and Andy’s
friends just want him back home. “Andy holds a special place in my heart,” says
Michaela. “Every day, I ask God to give me back Andy, my granddaughter — my
loving little sunshine — and her mom.”
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