In death, a 13-year-old becomes a symbol of Syrian opposition
By Arwa Damon, CNN
May 31, 2011 6:55 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The body of Hamza Ali al-Khateeb, 13, shows horrible injuries in a YouTube video
"They want the people to see this, they want the people to get scared," an activist says
Instead, people "got angrier," says the activist, who is in hiding in Syria
Syrian state TV: The medical examiner says there was no evidence of torture
(CNN) -- The translation of the voice below the macabre YouTube video clip reads, "Look at the bruises on his face along with his broken neck." The clip is a two and a half minute gruesome catalogue of wounds on a 13-year-old child's body.
The body of Hamza Ali al-Khateeb.
On April 29, demonstrators from villages surrounding Daraa, Syria, marched on the city in an attempt to break the Syrian military siege there. Their intent was to bring in much-needed supplies, including milk for babies and crucial medicines. At the time, the crackdown on Daraa was so intense eyewitnesses spoke of bodies bloating in the streets and the injured being treated at makeshift secret clinics to avoid detection by the Syrian security forces.
On that day, eyewitnesses say, security forces fired indiscriminately on them, killing and wounding dozens. Countless others were detained in a mass roundup.
Among them, says his family, was Hamza. He got separated from his father in the chaos.
Outrage in Syria over boy's death RELATED TOPICS
A month later, the family received his body. The video was taken at that time by a relative, the family says.
Much of the video of the child's corpse is too graphic to broadcast. His face is bloated and purple. His body is covered in bruises. There are gunshot wounds to his torso and his genitals are mutilated.
CNN cannot independently verify what happened to Hamza or the authenticity of the video.
Hamza's family was threatened after the video was initially broadcast by other outlets, intermediaries told CNN, and they became too petrified to talk about what happened, even to close friends.
Razan Zaitouneh, a prominent activist in hiding in Syria who CNN reached via Skype, said she has no doubt that it is real. And she believes that the regime had a message in releasing the boy's body.
"They want the people to see this, they want the people to get scared," Zaitouneh said. "They want the people to know that there is no red line and anything, no matter how awful it is, could happen to their family members if they continue to participate in this revolution."
But far from terrorizing people, the video appears to have made them only bolder.
People "got angrier. Every family, every single family in Syria felt, even if they were not directly with the revolution, they felt that Hamza is their own son," Zaitouneh explained.
More demonstrations erupted across Syria, with crowds chanting Hamza's name.
According to the video posted on YouTube, men in the Damascus countryside chanted, "Faithful brothers, do not forget that your sons could become Hamza al-Khateeb," while in central Syria demonstrators chanted, "With our blood and our souls we will defend you Hamza"
Even children took to the streets, risking a similar fate, vowing that Hamza's blood was not spilled in vain.
In reaction, Syrian state TV on Tuesday ran a segment in which a person identified as the medical examiner in the case said the body's injuries were sustained when the boy was alive, but there was no evidence on the surface of the body that the boy had been subjected to torture, violence or retaliation.
The medical examiner said proper procedures to identify the body were followed after the body first arrived, and went on to describe how a body deteriorates in phases after death, turning dark brown, for example, with parts becoming enlarged.
The boy's death, he said, was the result of the three gunshot wounds he sustained.
Syria TV also said al-Assad met with members of Hamza's family on Tuesday, and it showed men it identified as the boy's father and uncle, who said that al-Assad was very welcoming and understanding, and promised reform.
But in Washington, the reports about Hamza's fate drew strong words from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. In response to a question about Syria from CNN, she said she was "very concerned with reports about the young boy."
"In fact, I think what that symbolizes for many Syrians is the total collapse of any effort by the Syrian government to work with and listen to their own people," she said. "... I can only hope that this child did not die in vain, but that the Syrian government will end the brutality and begin the transition to a real democracy."
She added, "Every day that goes by the position of the government becomes less tenable and the demands of the Syrian people only grow stronger."
Activists say they are not surprised that the regime could have committed the kind of cruelty the YouTube video allegedly shows, and they claim that it is not the first time a child has been targeted.
Another video posted to YouTube claims to show an 11-year-old child who was shot in his home. Another clip shows people trying to recover the body of a child in a street amid intense gunfire. And another shows children lying wounded in a hospital after security forces allegedly fired on their bus.
Activists say these types of atrocities have been committed against the population for decades now by a regime that doesn't differentiate between ages.
The difference now, they say, is that it is being talked about.
Hamza's death has prompted an international outrage. A Facebook page calling itself "We are all the martyr, the child Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb" had 60,000 followers by Tuesday.
The face of this 13-year-old from a village in southern Syria is now the symbol of an uprising.
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
Salaam,
Poor kid. There are some sick people in this world.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
Assalaamu Alaaykum
Inna lillaahi wa inna ilaayhi raji'oon
such an innocent little face and victim of an evil human being who kills innocents humans for a living, saddening indeed..
may Allaah grant protection to his family and those those who are in similar situations and grant justice to those who are oppressed Aameen..
@Boaz-not really, though its a crime against humanity, these evil doers will be given their day of what they deserve, and those who are innocent will recieve justice!
Last edited by Ğħαrєєвαħ; 06-02-2011 at 07:35 PM.
"Allah! La ilaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), Al-Hayyul-Qayyum (the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists).".."[Al Qur'aan 3:2]
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
format_quote Originally Posted by Boaz
Does it really surprise you?
Yes, sometimes. Hearing these cases make me sick.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
Salaam
An update on the situation in Syria
No Wonder They Were Rioting in Damascus
It was sad. It was ridiculous. It was totally out of touch. The thousand Syrian dead (and counting) were, according to President Bashar al-Assad, victims of that well-known Arab animal: the plot, the conspiracy, the "foreign hand", the same dastardly enemy that confronted Mubarak (before he was chucked out) and Ben Ali (before he was chucked out) and Saleh (before he was driven out, wounded, like an animal) and which still supposedly confronts Gaddafi and the Khalifas and, well, Bashar al-Assad.
The idea that the thousands of mourners, the tens of thousands of bereaved Syrians whose sons and brothers and fathers and uncles – and, yes, wives and daughters and mothers – have been gunned down by Assad's Alawi armed gangs and his brother Maher's special forces, are going to be assuaged with a "national dialogue", "consultative meetings" for "a few days", chats between a hundred "personalities" to discuss "mechanisms" after which "dialogue will begin immediately", is not only patronising. It is a sign of just how far the "sea of quietness" in which all dictators live has cut Assad off from the lives of the people he claims to rule.
Assad tells Syrians to be of good cheer. Trust the army. They are your brothers, he tells them. Trust the government. Yes, Assad will rid Syria of corruption – as he and his father promised to do approximately 22 times in their rule. The young Bashar has already undertaken five anti-corruption campaigns – and only last week did his own outrageous cousin agree to give up his billion-dollar business dealings and devote himself to charity. Charity! No wonder the protesters rioted again in Damascus. This wasn't just incredible – in the literal sense of the word – it was insulting to the living and to the dead.
Then came the threats. Those who had spilled blood would be chased down – as if the people of Syrian cities and towns and villages don't know what that means. They were encouraged by the Caliph Bashar to return to their homes where those kindly gunmen and torturers would protect them from the "saboteurs and extremists" who were upsetting their lives by attacking the brave members of the security forces (when they weren't torturing civilians, although that is not what Assad said).
And then there was that wonderful line, that the protesters were suckers, taken in by extremists, used as a "shroud" – a grimly suitable expression, though Assad apparently did not realise it – for the gunmen and murderers who represented a dark hangover of the Muslim Brotherhood uprising of 1982 (another rebellion met with staggering cruelty by Syrian troops loyal to Assad's uncle Rifaat, still happily residing in London of course).
Odd, this. For the "gunman" in the crowd, the "terrorist" using civilians as "human shields" is a myth propagated for decades by the Israeli army when they kill civilians, by the French army in Algeria, by the British Army in Northern Ireland, by Nato forces in Afghanistan. By God, our Bashar is in good company!
It was the same old game. The people are the children, innocent, unaware, taken in by the foreign saboteur's hand while the worldly-wise Assad wants only to save Syria from its enemies. And we are supposed to be surprised when the unarmed men and women of Syria march in the streets yet again to reject this nonsense.
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
Syrian forces have killed at least 28 people in a massive tank-backed raid on the central city of Homs, rights activists say, while Syria's strongest ally Iran made a surprising call for President Bashar al-Assad to end the violent crackdown.
Wednesday's security operation came after 2,000 people had taken to the streets of the city a day earlier, activists said.
Most of the killings occurred in old neighbourhoods of Homs, situated on the main northern highway 165km from the capital Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based independent Syrian rights group, said.
"Military reinforcements including 20 truckloads of soldiers entered the city," it said, opening "intense gunfire in the market and governorate headquarters".
The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), which organises the anti-regime protests on the ground, said the death toll continues to increase in Homs, where communications and internet services was cut in many neighbourhoods on Wednesday.
At least two people were killed in raids and attacks on Idlib province's Sarmeen, and one other in the northern city of Hama, the LCC said.
State-run news agency SANA reported that a "terrorist group" kidnapped two Baath party officials in the town of Rastan, near Homs, on Wednesday.
"That may be the reason behind the intense raids in Homs," Al Jazeera's Omar al-Saleh reported from neighbouring Jordan. The Syrian government bans international journalists from entering the country.
Activists and residents said heavy machine-gun fire was heard in the Bab Dreib and Bostan Diwan neighbourhoods of Homs on Tuesday night after the protesters had set out for the area from Bab Tadmor.
The security operations came just hours after Syria requested Nabil Elaraby, the Arab League secretary-general, to delay his visit to Damascus, "due to circumstances beyond our control", SANA said late on Tuesday.
League officials said Elaraby will now visit Syria on Saturday.
According to a copy of the document, he was to propose that Assad hold elections in three years, move towards a pluralistic government and immediately halt the crackdown on anti-government protesters.Elaraby had been commissioned by the 22-member bloc to travel on Wednesday with a 13-point document outlining proposals to end the government's bloody crackdown on dissent and push Syria to launch reforms.
The initiative, agreed at an Arab foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo last month, calls for a "clear declaration of principles by Assad specifying commitment to reforms he made in past speeches".
The initiative angered Syria which said it contained "unacceptable and biased language". 'Crimes against humanity'
Separately on Wednesday, the French foreign minister accused Syria of "crimes against humanity" and expressed a desire for Russia's support in a UN condemnation of the crackdown.
The Syrian authorities should be sent "a powerful signal that such actions cannot continue", Alain Juppe said during his talks in Moscow with Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart.
Lavrov did not respond to Juppe's expressions of hope for Russia to change its stance and back UN condemnation of the crackdown.
"We consider that inciting certain forces within the opposition to boycott the invitation to dialogue is a dangerous path and risks a repetition of the Libyan scenario, which neither Russia nor France wants," Lavrov said.
Syria's regime, which has promised to launch a wide range of reforms to appease the protest movement, blames the deadly unrest on foreign-backed "armed terrorist gangs".
Mohammad Jleilati, the Syrian finance minister, acknowledged on Wednesday that the violence has driven down economic growth expectations lower.
"The current circumstances, no doubt, have some negative impact on the economy. We hope to overcome it through reforms," he said on the sidelines of an Arab ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi when asked about economic growth.
The US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, went on Facebook on Wednesday to denounce the Assad government over its crackdown on protests, which the UN says has left 2,200 people dead since March.
Source-Aljazeera.
Has anybody seen that video of the syrian protester already dead on the floor, and the animals keep shooting him like a good five or six times? He's dead already for God's sake! The way they torture the captives makes me sick to my stomach wallahi.
Do not think of minor sins as insignificant,
for mountains are made out of pebbles...
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
format_quote Originally Posted by Ghazalah
Has anybody seen that video of the syrian protester already dead on the floor, and the animals keep shooting him like a good five or six times? He's dead already for God's sake! The way they torture the captives makes me sick to my stomach wallahi.
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
Have a look at this.
Beating a young boy, who looks no more than 15, showing him a picture of Bashar and saying "Bow to your Rabb (God)" and he spits on it. He is so brave.
May Allah swt deal with these animals in a way which befits Him and humiliates them. Ameen.
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
format_quote Originally Posted by Ghazalah
Have a look at this.
Beating a young boy, who looks no more than 15, showing him a picture of Bashar and saying "Bow to your Rabb (God)" and he spits on it. He is so brave.
May Allah swt deal with these animals in a way which befits Him and humiliates them. Ameen.
bravery that grown men can't show sob7an Allah.. I have hope for the new generation.. They'll carve out their future with their own hands they're not bequeathed it like my parent's generation ...
format_quote Originally Posted by Boaz
Al-Assad will be swinging from a rope soon.
hope he's tortured before death!
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
format_quote Originally Posted by Boaz
And go down to his level? Better to give him the fair trial and quick death he doesn't deserve than sink to his level.
He's not on any level that anyone could recognize.. these despots aren't designed for 'fair trials' they buy it on the blood of others.. indeed it would satisfy me to see all those people like Asad, Mubarak, Cheney, bush etc taken to town square and made an example out of in front of everyone!
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
Let God deal with vermin like Assad. It's not my place to say he'll go to hell, but I'm sure nothing goes unnoticed when it comes to our judgment days.
Re: Even children aren't spared the torture of despots
format_quote Originally Posted by Boaz
Let God deal with vermin like Assad. It's not my place to say he'll go to hell, but I'm sure nothing goes unnoticed when it comes to our judgment days.
That's one of the best things being a muslim: we are absolutely certain that perfect justice will be served in after life.
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