A 2-year-old boy who was terminally ill, whose Yemeni mother had to sue the State Department to obtain a visa to join him in a California hospital, died Friday night of a rare brain disease, announced the Council on US-Islamic Relations .

Abdullah Hassan, an American citizen, was to be buried on Saturday.

"We are heartbroken. We had to say goodbye to our baby, the light of our lives, "said Ali Hassan, the boy's father, also an American citizen, in a statement released by CAIR Sacramento Valley.

The Hassan family, including the mother of Abdullah Shaima Swileh lived in Cairo, where the couple moved after the outbreak of the war in Yemen in 2016.

Shaima Swileh, right, alongside her husband Ali Hassan after the arrival of Swileh at the San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday, December 19, 2018. Swileh is the Yemeni mother who won her fight to obtain a waiver from the travel ban imposed by the Trump administration that would allow her to go to California to see her 2 year old dying son. (Photo: Jeff Chiu, AP)

They could not move to California because Shaima, a Yemeni national, had been refused for a visa due to the travel ban imposed by the Trump administration in 2017.

The ban, which was revised as a result of objections by federal courts and prevented visas from five Muslim majority countries: l & # 39; Iran, Somalia, Syria, Libya and Yemen, as well as citizens of North Korea and the Venezuelan government and their families.

After the diagnosis of Abdullah A degenerative brain condition, Ali decided to take his son to California in October

. But without a visa, Shaima Swileh was forced to stay

As the couple appealed the visa issue , doctors in California put Abdullah in support of life.

"My wife calls me every day to want to kiss and hold her son for the last time," said Ali Hassan, who broke down at a press conference held this month. this.

No point, he was considering taking his son out of life care to end his suffering when a hospital social worker put him in touch with CAIR, who sued the department of state on December 16th.

Shaima obtained her waiver the next day, arriving at her son on December 19th.

"Thanks to their bravery, this family has inspired our country to face the realities of Ban Ban, which is an exception for Donald Trump," said Saad Sweilem, counsel representing the family. "In his short life, Abdullah has been a beacon for us all in the fight against xenophobia and the separation of families."

Contributing: Associated Press

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