Abdullah, who is from Binnish in Idlib governate, majored in radio and television at the University’s Faculty of Media and graduated with a 91.4 % exceeding all of his peers.
The University honored him during a ceremony held on Sept 06, 2016, that was attended by hundreds of students and parents.
Abdullah, now 23 years-old, was still in his teens when the revolution began in March, 2011.
Like many other young Syrians, he participated in peaceful demonstrations against the Assad regime in his city of Binnish.
Also like many other young men who wished to continue their studies without being forced into serving in the regime’s army, Abdullah eventually fled to Turkey where he lived until being accepted by the Faculty of Media at Yarmouk University in Jordan.
Abdullah told Orient Net that his graduating class was a mixture of students from Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Kuwait and Turkey.
For his group’s graduation project, Abdullah served as screenwriter and director for a short film titled “The Closed Doors” about political prisoners who were arrested, tortured and then held in Assad’s prisons.
The graduation ceremony for Abdullah and his classmates included many revolutionary chants and slogans and confirmed that this generation of university students is determined to continue working towards the Syrian revolution’s goals of freedom, dignity and democracy — without Assad’s brutal dictatorship.
As a counter response to the “Assad forever” chants of regime supporters, Abdullah and his fellow graduates chanted "Nothing is forever. Nothing is forever …Long live Syria and topple Assad soon.”
On the other hand, Syrian activists delighted in making fun of Asma Assad on social media for her typically rambling Assad commentary on what it means to be a distinguished student in Syria.
After the fashion of her husband and his supporters, who like to tell vague stories about fighting “world enemies” and trusting in “unconsciousness theory”, Asma expounded on her own theory of “excellent vs distinguished”.
In a statement that sounded more like the self-justifying war terminologies used by her husband such as “opposition vs betrayal”, “country vs government” and “patriotism vs non-patriotism,” Asma said that “excellency cannot be obtained without being distinguished” when speaking of the graduates of Syria’s National Center for Distinguished Students that was modeled after a Russian education program.
“What is the difference between one who is excellent and one who is distinguished?” she asked.
“The excellent person is all these, but he is more competent in developing the situation,” Asma attempted to explain. “I am surrounded by examples.”
While her answer failed to clarify just what criteria the Assad regime uses for judging excellency, Abdullah told Orient Net from Jordan that he completed the four year media program at Yarmouk in three years proving that he is both distinguished and excellent.
Two weeks ago, he attended an interview for a scholarship that would allow him to continue his education in Turkey and acquire a Master’s Degree from the Dept of TV, Radio and Cinema at a Turkish university if accepted.
He said that his motivation for achieving excellency in his field of study was his brother, Huzefa al-Khatib, who was the first University of Aleppo student to be killed by the Assad regime after the revolution began.
Abdullah told Orient Net that his brother had been studying architecture and was 23 years old when he was martyred just one week before his own graduation — the same age that Abdullah is now.
When asked what message he wished to convey to his fellow Syrians Abdullah said, “This graduation is for my brother who was martyred at the beginning of the revolution and all those who died without being able to complete their education.”
His message to Syrians both inside and outside of Syria was, “Do what you can to help Syria and Syrians in your career; whether it’s by studying or working, or in whatever you can do because Syria needs us.’
“Whatever job you do, do it well for it’s in professionalism that we will eventually make Syria better.”
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