This was the week when the almost anonymous bloody conflict in Syria suddenly found a face, becoming ''real’’ to most of us for the first time. Footage of the battered and mutiliated body of a 13-year-old boy, Hamza al-Khatib, made its way onto YouTube. It is claimed that his secret police tormentors physically emasculated him at some point, before he was shot dead. While nothing should surprise us about such a brutal regime – slashing victims with scalpels, stitching up the wounds, and then beating the scar tissue at 10-minute intervals is a Syrian speciality – torturing a 13-year-old represents a new low. Even the British-educated ophthalmologist Bahar al–Assad, who presides over Syria, affected crocodile tears, and commiserated with Hamza’s parents in a meeting they could not refuse. ''We are all Hamza al-Khatib,’’ declared Syrian protesters, who brandished placards reading: ''Did Hamza scare you that much?’’ Revolutions and struggles against repression have a habit of crystallising themselves in the image of one person – a single image can come to represent a whole nation’s grievances. This has been the case throughout the wave of uprisings which have spread through the Middle East this year. They have undoubtedly found individual victims of regime brutality who have served to symbolise the conflict, helped along the way by the online technology which has often fuelled the people’s r... >>>
Person | About | Day |
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نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |