The words were meant as a challenge to Assad security men who swooped down with abusive insults and beatings upon peaceful protesters gathered in front of the Syrian Ministry of Interior in Marjeh Square of Damascus on March 16, 2011.
“There were more than a thousand security and intelligence forces, armed to the teeth, with weapons, sticks, and batons. It was clear that they had orders to harass the protesters — with no regard for the consequences of the use of excessive violence,” said Mulham al-Hassani.
Mulham belonged to a group of activists who had published a statement through social media and the World Wide Web a few days earlier requesting a meeting with interior minister, Saeed Samour, on behalf of Syria’s prisoners of conscience who were on a hunger strike at the time.
Hoping that the regime would be willing to allow them to be reunited with their imprisoned loved ones, about 200 relatives of the detainees, groups of writers, intellectuals, human rights activists and other concerned citizens gathered for a demonstration outside the Ministry of Interior offices hoping to get an audience with officials so they could share their complaints and their suffering.
Mulham explained that he was also there as an advocate for his brother, Muhannad al-Hassani, a lawyer who had been detained by the Assad regime in 2009.
Muhannad’s organization, The Syrian Human Rights Organization (SAWASIYAH), had been monitoring human rights violations committed by Syrian authorities and because of his work in defending prisoners of conscience, Muhannad had been arrested, dismissed from the bar and his license to practice revoked.
Accused of undermining the prestige of the state, weakening national sentiments and spreading false news he was sentenced to six years in prison along with being subjected to a lifetime ban on practicing law in Syria.
“On the day of the demonstration my brothers and I arrived at the square to find a few hundred demonstrators carrying pictures of detainees and some banners,” Mulham said in a quavering voice as he recalled the events of that day.
“Within five minutes we were surrounded by Assad security forces who threatened us with cursing and vulgar insults full of profanity. Then they attacked us — mercilessly kicking and beating everyone with large clubs. Female demonstrators were being dragged down to buses in Marjeh Square for arrest.
“Women and children were crying loudly in their distress and some demonstrators responded with resistance, but all attempts at resistance were in vain.”
Mulham said that a few minutes later he saw a group of young Damascenes running from the side of al-Hamidiyeh market whose bravery, chivalry and gallantry were obvious on their faces. They were yelling; “Oh cowards! You are beating women…” and scuffled with security forces in an unequal battle which ended up with all of them being arrested.
“Until this day I cannot forget the face of a child whose features were stricken with panic and fear,” Mulham continued.
“He was no more than ten years old and was standing next to his father carrying a picture of his detained mother when he was attacked by one of Assad’s security forces. Without mercy, the image of his mother was violently ripped out of his small hand, thrown on the ground and stomped under the officer’s feet while uttering the ugliest insults you could ever hear and calling the child’s mother a whore,” Mulham recalled with profound sadness at the memory.
“He then proceeded to heap more humiliation upon the father by beating him cruelly in front of the eyes of his child who begged the man through his tears to leave his father alone. Without an ounce of mercy, the officer ordered his comrades to drag the boy and his father, who was lying on the cement with his face and clothes covered in blood, to the detention bus.”
Mulham said that he, his brothers and some of their friends were able to make a miraculous escape on foot to al Nasr Street carrying their pains, humiliations and their sighs with them.
Their eyes were full of tears due to the scenario they had witnessed of helpless protesters and their screaming children begging pedestrians, who were unable to come to their defense, to help them.
A few days later Mulham was summoned by the state security branch due to an article he had written titled “Regime Demagoguery” as well as a Facebook post in which he narrated the events he had witnessed in Marjeh Square on March 16.
In the Facebook post he had said; “Yesterday my brothers and I went to meet the Minister of the Interior to submit a statement we had written regarding our detained lawyer brother, Muhannad al-Hassani, who is on a hunger strike. But we did not see any officials, and no one from the ministry was there to meet us.”
“Instead, I watched the batons come down on us like rain.
“We were kicked and insulted, attempts were made to arrest us and I saw the families of detainees being dragged into the detention buses!”
Mulham was detained for twelve hours of threatening and intimidation, between the investigation and being held in a solitary confinement cell, but that did not stop him from pursuing the peaceful struggle against the Assad regime or supporting the revolution through its activities in the field of human rights.
Based on the story of Mulham al-Hassani as told to Ghossoun Abou Dahab in Arabic.
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