Not even sure he is alive, the family of Majd Kamalmaz, 61, is asking President Donald Trump for help finding the American therapist detained in Syria in 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported.
"Mr. President, you are the only power that is able to bring him safely home to his wife, children, grandchildren, mother, siblings, and friends," the family wrote to President Trump in an Oct. 29 letter, according to the Journal.
The last known whereabouts of Kamalmaz is at a government checkpoint in Syria's capital of Damascus. Another American, freelance journalist Austin Tice, was detained at a Damascus checkpoint in 2012, per the report.
Kamalmaz was helping treat victims of war in Syria, which has been under a bloody civil war with ISIS.
"President Trump, please bring our father back home safely," his daughter Maryam Kamalmaz told the Journal. "We've seen how compassionate and successful you have been at freeing American citizens detained abroad. We're positive you will have the same success with our father."
President Trump was able to bring home American paster Andrew Brunson, who was detained in Turkey.
News of Layla Shweikani, then 26, having been executed by the Syrian government in December 2016 for being a pro-democracy activist has concerned Kamalmaz's family.
"There is such joy in me," Kamalmaz was quoted in 2016 from Lebanon. "I'm dealing with people who have had extreme losses. . . . Their bodies are all punctured and burned, and they're sitting there with a smile on their face. To me, it's hard to express. It's just a great joy."
Majd Kamalmaz is a Syrian-American mental-health therapist who had set up clinics in Lebanon helping Syrian refugees deal with the trauma from the war.
"He's been doing this work selflessly all over the world with little recognition, always in modesty and under the radar," Renata Crescenzo, who once worked with Kamalmaz in Lebanon. "He's a truly, truly special soul."
Kamalmaz was allegedly held at Damascus' "Mezzeh military base, a detention center notorious for torturing and executing the prisoners," but the Damascus government changed their story and said Kamalmaz was not held, the Journal reported.
"Our hearts ache and our thoughts are clouded by concern about his health," Maryam Kamalmaz told the Journal. "He's left a void in our hearts that is irreplaceable. His tight hugs and loving eyes complete us. We miss him in every way possible."
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