Tafida flight touches down in Genoa

(ANSA) - Genoa, October 15 - A plane carrying a seriously brain-damaged British girl, Tafida Raqeeb, touched down in Genoa Tuesday ahead of her transfer to the northwestern Italian city's Gaslini Children's Hospital after the family won an appeal against pulling the plug at the Royal London Hospital.
    The family has requested Italian citizenship for her, a lawyer for the right-to-life legal group that has assisted them in Italian judicial issues said.
    Five-year-old Tafida is to get treatment at the Galsini after the British high court upheld an appeal from her parents on October 3.
    Doctors at the Royal London Hospital said Tafida Raqeeb had no hope of recovering from a brain injury and her life support should be stopped.
    But a judge at the Royal Courts of Justice upheld an appeal from her parents who said Genoa's Gaslini Hospital was prepared to continue treating her by performing a tracheotomy.
    Tafida is in a state of minimal consciousness and is not in pain.
    The court ruling was described as "sensational" by the Mail online after a string of contrary rulings in similar cases.
    The parents, 39-year-old immigration lawyer Shelina Begum and 45-year-old building consultant Mohammed Raqeeb, had invoked their religious beliefs saying that Islam was contrary to pulling the plug on terminal patients.
    Judge Alistair MacDonald did not rule on the religious aspect of the case but ruled against the London hospital's contention that withdrawing her life support was in the girl's best interests.
    Doctors in London said she was no longer aware of anything and had no prospect of recovery.
    The mother rejoiced saying "Tafida is not dying, is not suffering, she is stable and needs time; and now she is aware of my presence".
    Before the possible move to the Gaslini, however, it remains to be seen whether the Royal London Hospital decides to appeal the verdict.