'Terrorism devastates families'
Updated on 07 July 2009
Andy Davies talks to Saba Mozakka, whose mother was killed in the 7 July bombings, on the day a new memorial to the 52 victims is unveiled in London's Hyde Park.
Twenty-eight year old Saba is one of five relatives of victims who oversaw the development of the monument in Hyde Park - steel pillars over fifty metres high on a site in the park between Lovers' Walk and Park Lane.
Her mother, Behnaz, died in the Piccadilly line blast between King's Cross and Russell Square.
"We're incredibly proud of this memorial," Saba said. "We think it is a fitting tribute, a very poignant memorial for those people that we love and lost.
"It has been a very difficult process. Obviously, not a day goes past when I don't think of my mum and I don't miss her. But I am very proud that we have been able to put something back and represent our loss in a very public and powerful way.
"It has obviously had its challenges. We are talking about the loss of 52 very different people from all over the world, different races, ages. All kinds of different people.
"I wish I didn't have to be here today. I am really proud that it really does signify my mum's loss, but also the terrible events of 7 July that have fundamentally ruined our family really. It's a very personal loss, but it is also something that we felt that London as a whole and also the UK should commemorate.
"I think of my mum first and foremost. I wonder what she would have thought of it. She loved Hyde Park and she enjoyed spending time in the park. I hope that she would have loved it. I think of her and I think that she would have been proud that I was able to work on this project.
"And then obviously I think of all the other families and their loss. We've become very close as a group and some very special friendships and bonds have been formed. I know families that have lost their children, siblings that have been lost.
"I think of the individuals that have been lost because 7 July, while it was a wider incident, for me it was a very individual loss. I think of my dad and I think of my brother.
"For us it was very important that future generations were able to look at this memorial and see the devastation that such a barbaric and senseless act causes. These were 52 innocent people on their way to work, on their way to their studies. They have been taken away from us in such an arbitrary nature.
"For us this message of this memorial is it could have been anyone. Sadly for me it was my mum, but on that day it could have been anyone.
"And that is what terrorism does - it devastates families."
