A difficult milestone
Canadian Foreign Minister Mark Gano and several opposition lawmakers and the U.S. Ambassador to Ottawa attended the Ottawa rally.
“This is a difficult milestone,” Najibullah said to the crowd, holding back tears. “1000 days have passed-heartbreak, pain, injustice are real. It’s heavy, I feel it, we all feel it.”
She said that her husband described his ordeal in a letter from the prison and added: “One thing he does in a small cell without windows every day is to walk 7,000 steps.”
“He walks in circles, 7000 steps, often holding a book, reading, reciting songs, praying-five kilometers of courage and contemplation. And today, he will not be alone. We will accompany him, all of us,” she says.
“He knew this was happening,” she added. “He knew we were with him. This gave him strength.”
Michael Spavor’s brother Paul told reporters that his brother “spent a lot of time reading, meditating, and doing yoga.”
“A thousand days is long,” he said. “Today is just another day, but another day has passed. Our Michaels did not come back with us.”
Photos and videos courtesy of LARS HAGBERG/afp
