30 May 2011 By Tariq Alhomayed In fact, Hamza al-Khatib not only shook Syria, but
also the conscience of the entire world. After several
days of denial campaigns in the official Syrian media,
the Syrian regime broke its silence and declared that
an investigation would be conducted with regards to
the brutal torture suffered by the child. Hamza's story was then investigated, and according
to the Syrian regime and its statements, the child had
not been tortured, but forensic evidence instead
proved that he had received three bullet wounds which
led to his death! This excuse is worse than the crime,
because how is it [any more justifiable] to kill a
child with three bullets? In fact, what about the 30
children altogether who have been killed by gunfire in
the uprising, according to UNICEF? The whole story
from beginning to end is depressing and disgusting,
and its details justify the condemnation that the
Syrian regime and its media are receiving. The latter
has become something of a joke in Syria: Rather than
Syrians telling their children that those who lie go
to hell, they now say those who lie go to the Syrian
media. We are witnessing the emergence of a new
provocative media, which is strangely tolerated by the
wider Arab media. This is the phenomenon of Syrian
"analysts" who defend the regime. I doubt whether they
even believe themselves, and they are what I call the
"new al-Sahafis", with reference to the former Iraqi
Minister of Information, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf. Interestingly, these "analysts" talked about the
Salafis and armed groups, only for the President to
come out and acknowledge the legitimate demands of the
protestors, hence undermining what the analysts said.
Then they said the Lebanese were responsible for
supporting the Syrian demonstrations, and referred to
cheques paid to fund the uprising in an attempt to
prove this, which then turned out to be fake. Then one
analyst came out and described the Syrian protestors
as "scum", whilst the Syrian President came out and
announced an amnesty! Respected Arab news outlets in
our region should not accept the emergence of this
phenomenon, and if the Syrian regime wants to defend
itself, it should do so through an allocated official
spokesperson, or through the regime's Minister of
Information. It could even do so through a security
spokesman, as long as the security forces hold the
upper hand in Damascus today. Yet it must not use
these "analysts" who the media stations know, more
than anyone else, are not credible. As an aside, there
is a video on "YouTube" showing a demonstration in a
Syrian town, where the demonstrators are chanting the
names of these "analysts" affiliated with the Syrian
regime, and after each one loudly shouting: Liar! Therefore, at a time when the Syrian President has
offered his condolences to the family of the child
victim, we should remember that Hamza has become a
symbol for the shaken Syrians, just like Bouazizi was
for the Tunisians, even after former Tunisian
President Ben Ali visited him in hospital before he
died, and then stepped down from power. Hamza is also
a symbol like the Egyptian Khaled Saeed. The whole world heard the cry of injustice coming
from the child's family, and it struck their
conscience. Even the U.S. station "CNN" displayed
selected images of Hamza's body, which were first
broadcast by "al-Jazeera", where the news anchor
Anderson Cooper said: "we have found it necessary to
display these images so the world can see the
brutality of the Syrian regime". Indeed, everyone saw
the brutal image, except the Arab League it seems! Comments 💬 التعليقات |