Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal
A portrait from Papel Memoria, a memorial archive by Alessandra Gutierrez.
Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal was a 41 year old Afghan father of six who had worked alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan and was still waiting on his asylum case in Texas when ICE detained him. By the next day, his family was grieving his loss. They said he had been healthy before he was taken into custody, which makes what happened all the more upsetting and hard to understand.
There is something especially painful about the fact that he had once risked his life in support of this country and still ended up dying in its custody. He came here seeking safety, with a family and a future still in motion, and instead his story ended this way. May he be remembered with gratitude for his service and with the dignity he deserved.
For the clearest detail and strongest finished piece, I recommend using cardstock and a cutting machine. (Check your local LIBRARY for one in their “Maker Spaces”) Cardstock provides the stability needed to hold the fine lines and structure of the design. You can download the black and white image directly from this site or access the full set on the Cricut website under the Papel Memoria Collection. These templates are free to use for personal and community projects, but they may not be sold or used for commercial purposes.
To download the PNG file, click on the black and white image, open a new page and right click to save on to your computer. Alternately, you can visit the collection page on the Cricut website for all the files here.