Syria's Hamza Ali al-Khateeb--Child Martyr

Hamza Ali al-Khateeb, 13

It is exceptionally hard for me to wrap my head around Syria’s sad revolutionary symbol, as it was back in 2009 in Iran. I live in a country where I am afforded the right to vote, make my voice heard and just maybe I’ll see some sort of change. I exercise that right every couple of years since I was 18 and it troubles me that there are some folks who can careless about who runs this county, state, city or town, what gets cut or what doesn’t. I can say with no reservations, that a lot of Americans born or naturalized take that right for granted.

I talk about this “right” because in parts of the world, there is no such right, as we can see with the Arab Spring. Those people are fighting tooth and nail for the right to be able to vote in a fair election, get their voices heard and make the country better for the next generation to come, but with that good fight, there comes a price—one that is beyond my imagination for any human being.

Neda Agha-Soltan

About a year and a half ago, I finally got around to watching the documentary “For Neda”, it told the story of an Iranian woman named Neda Agha-Soltan. This twenty-something year old, so full of life, afraid of nothing and fought till the end to get her voice heard, died at the hands of a corrupted regime. Incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had just won the election and the people including Neda were beside themselves, most of the country saw reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi defeating the regressive leader. However, it was not so, on June 13th, it was announced that Ahmadinejad had won over 60% of the vote, an unlikely and extraordinary number. It was then that the nation and Neda took to the streets demanding he step down, wanting change and peace, wanting a better tomorrow. Neda was shot and killed by a government sniper while protesting and even though her last moments on this planet made it to just about every leader in the world—she died in vain, because they was no change in Iran.

Fast forward to May of 2011, marking a six month run of the Arab Spring. We have heard and seen stories of crimes against humanity, many not hitting home until this past week, when the story of Hamza al-Khateeb, broke. He is the 13 year old Syrian boy who in April went missing; no one knew of his where abouts. Young Hamza, pudgy-cheeked and bright eyed was sadly arrested by Syrian security services for protesting, and in their custody these inhumane beings tortured him for one month before killing him.

His life cut short, because a regime needed to make an example of one of thier own. Like Iran, the Syrian regime has been oppressing their people for decades, denying them a stable life. Young Hamza was hit by three bullets outside the military complex where he was protesting. There was a delay in returning the body because his identity was unknown, but last Friday the Syrian son was returned to his parents; dead and mutilated.
His face purple and swollen; bullet and burn marks on his chest, kneecaps shattered and his penis severed. Just 13 years old and his young body had to endure this much pain and hurt. Like Neda, young Hamza’s death has sparked international condemnation and an uprise as well. Every conflict over the last 70 years has its own defining image--for Iran, it was Neda bleeding to death and now for Syria, it is the body of a young corpse. But what will those images do for the people and the international community?

Bashir al-Assad has been President since 2000, before that the country was ruled by Hafez al-Assad, Bashir’s father, who was in power for 29 years. Syria is hoping that al-Assad will change and there will be reform, they have all been sitting on the sidelines going with the flow—hoping he will come to his senses. However, with young Hamza’s brutal death, they are not sitting on the sidelines anymore-- they are beyond angry and are ready to go the next step. But in that next step, crimes against humanity may increase to a higher degree and al-Assad will continue down the path he's going. No leader likes to be tested especially by his own people, for al-Assad this child's death means nothing. I can speak for myself when I say this, but if my actions caused anything remotely disturbing (like Hamza's death) I would do all that was in my power to make things right, so that nothing like this happens again. For al-Assad it is not the case, there have been crimes againsty humanity  before he took power and it didn't meany anything to him then, so obviously it means nothing today.

President Bashir al-Assad

However, is the death of this 13 years old, actually going to convey  any kind of political change? Wistfully, like Neda and Iran there was none. Both countries have the military power to shut down these protest quickly and move on from these deaths. Every day that goes by in Syria-- crime against humanity are taking place and al-Assad has no intention of stepping down. Although most of his assets along with his regimes have been frozen, al-Assad does not see the need to step aside and reform to a democratic system. Syria has been under al-Assad power for more than 40 years, and in that time it has been a one-party state without free elections (imposed by senior al-Assad). Syria has been castigated for its human rights, since 1963 in has been under emergence law, suspending most constitutional protections for citizens.

Back in January al-Assad stated "it was time to reform, that the protests in Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen indicated a "new era" was coming to the Middle East, and that Arab rulers needed to do more to accommodate their peoples' rising political and economic aspirations.” Sadly, those words were spoken falsely, because since then 1,000 have died as a result of the government’s crackdown, 25 of them being children.

Tomorrow (June 3rd) is "Day of Hamza". In the couple of days since news of the death spread, more than 58,000 people have visited and expressed support for a Facebook page memorializing him.