twice-abandoned Filipina – Fatima, a 15-year-old Filipina girl found unresponsive at a home in Ajman, was buried in Dubai’s Al Qusais Cemetery after Dubai Municipality granted permission and Dubai Police issued a no-objection certificate. Her foster father, Syed Ali Moazzam, said the bi
On Sunday, Syed Ali Moazzam walked the last stretch of grief with one clear goal: to lay Fatima to rest in Dubai, not in limbo.
“Finally, we managed to lay our Fatima to rest in Dubai’s Al Qusais Cemetery,” Moazzam told Gulf News on Sunday. He spoke with a tight mix of sorrow and relief—grieving, but grateful that her body would no longer be held back by paperwork and jurisdiction.
Fatima’s biological mother, Moazzam said, was not there. She could not attend the burial because she was in police custody. Moazzam also said she was transferred from Ajman to Dubai, with multiple cases involving financial dealings filed against her.
Ajman authorities had told the foster parents that burial could only happen in Dubai, because Fatima was born there and because her biological mother’s last visa was also from there. That meant the foster parents had to seek permission from Dubai authorities before they could proceed.
Dubai permission after a long wait
Moazzam said getting permission to bury Fatima in Dubai was expected to be a long battle. With no Emirates ID and a complicated legal history, he said he was told they might face a long wait—possibly until after the Eid holidays.
He approached Dubai Municipality and Dubai Police, laying out Fatima’s story in full. He said he showed officials the previous Gulf News reports on Fatima.
Dubai Municipality granted permission, and after that Dubai Police issued a no-objection certificate for her burial despite her undocumented residency status.
“Alhamdulillah, we got permission. We are thankful to Dubai Municipality and Dubai Police,” Moazzam said.
He added that he did not want her body kept waiting. “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.
Found unresponsive in Ajman
Fatima was declared dead after she was found unresponsive at their home in Ajman on Tuesday morning, according to Gulf News. She was 15.
Before the burial, the sequence of administrative decisions became its own kind of pain. Ajman authorities’ condition—that burial must be in Dubai—forced Moazzam and his wife, Muozzama, to keep pushing forward even after the loss.
Moazzam described the permission process as something officials expected to be slow. But the end result came through Dubai’s Municipality and Police: permission first, then a no-objection certificate.
A girl moved from hand to hand
Fatima’s life, as Moazzam described it, began with instability that never really stopped.
She was born out of wedlock, and her father had disappeared, according to her mother, who initially took care of her. She then handed the child over to a friend and her partner when Fatima was just a year old.
Those first informal foster parents eventually gave up on her. Moazzam and Muozzama then stepped in and started homeschooling her.
The day of her death was followed by a different kind of waiting—legal and procedural—before she could be buried.
A final message from Fatima
After she sent Gulf News a video thanking the newspaper and the reporter who had helped her, Fatima’s words had already landed in the middle of an unfolding story. In the days leading up to the end, that message carried a simple request: not for pity, but for help.
Now, with Fatima finally placed in Dubai’s Al Qusais Cemetery, the last hurdle has been cleared. But the absence at the burial—her biological mother in police custody, and unable to attend—leaves a raw, unfinished edge to the case.
Moazzam’s farewell closes with one fact that cannot be softened: Fatima was declared dead after being found unresponsive at their home in Ajman on Tuesday morning, and she was buried in Dubai only after Dubai Municipality granted permission and Dubai Police issued a no-objection certificate.
For Moazzam and Muozzama, the permission was the difference between delay and release. For Fatima, it is the difference between being forgotten in records and finally being laid to rest.
Fatima Dubai burial permission Al Qusais Cemetery Ajman Dubai Police no-objection certificate Dubai Municipality foster father Syed Ali Moazzam Muozzama undocumented residency UAE Eid holidays