Dubai authorities issued special permission on Sunday to bury a 15-year-old twice-abandoned Filipina girl at the Al Qusais Cemetery, following her death from a severe autoimmune disease.
Fatima passed away on Tuesday morning after being found unresponsive at her home in Ajman, as reported by Gulf News.
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Her biological mother could not attend the funeral because she was held in police custody due to multiple financial cases, according to a friend.
Because Fatima was born in Dubai and lacked an Emirates ID, her Pakistani foster parents, Syed Ali Moazzam and Muozzama, faced a complicated legal process to secure her burial outside of Ajman.
The foster family expressed deep relief after receiving the necessary clearances from the local government departments to proceed with the Islamic funeral rites.
"Finally, we managed to lay our Fatima to rest in Dubai's Al Qusais Cemetery," Moazzam told Gulf News on Sunday.
The foster father explained that obtaining the burial permit was expected to be a prolonged challenge due to the lack of residency documents.
"I didn't have peace. I didn't want her body to stay in cold storage.
I wanted to relieve her of all worldly things as soon as possible," he said.
The family expressed gratitude toward the local entities that expedited the administrative procedures during the difficult period.
"Alhamdulillah, we got permission. We are thankful to Dubai Municipality and Dubai Police," Moazzam said.
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Community members, neighbors, and former colleagues attended the funeral service to support the foster family.
Moazzam recalled that the community held great affection for the young girl during her life.
"She was a very inspiring and well-behaved child," Moazzam said.
Fatima had been handed over to informal foster parents at one year old before Moazzam and Muozzama took over her care and homeschooling.
She was later diagnosed with subcutaneous lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune condition that left her unconscious and required intensive home ventilator care for two and a half years.
"We were trained by the hospital to take care of her machines. We learned how to use the ventilator, how to handle the tracheostomy," Moazzam said.
Government hospitals in Ajman and Sharjah waived medical bills worth hundreds of thousands of dirhams, though private charities could not assist due to her lack of legal identity documents.
Medical professionals noted slight cognitive improvements over time, though her physical body remained largely paralyzed from the brain damage.
"The only improvement was that she could hold her head and move it and open her eyes.
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She was responsive to light, but doctors said what she was seeing did not create any image in her mind," Moazzam said.
