“Maysaloon” writes on his blog about his reaction to the photograph of a Syrian soldier facing his execution:
You’re looking at the picture of a dead man. He’s surrounded by men who will watch as he is killed and they will feel nothing. He’s the enemy, and for them that’s enough that he die.
But look at his face. He’s a boy. He’s terrified, and he is feeling something I wouldn’t wish on anybody, utter hopelessness. I can’t look at this and not feel something stab in my chest.
I don’t want to talk about how he is a regime soldier, or about how maybe he did terrible things, or that maybe he didn’t. Some will say that after four years he had a choice to make, but that’s not our call to make. I don’t think any man deserves an end like this, without trial, without dignity.
When we give a human being his dignity, we are preserving our own, and when we pronounce a just sentence on a man for the actions he’s done, only then do we do that with the righteousness of good and free people who have had an enormous responsibility thrust in their arms. The fact that evil men have thrust us all into this mess and made us suffer horribly is no excuse. And the fact that I haven’t suffered like this is no excuse for me not to speak up when something is horribly wrong.
This, this is not human, not right. Somewhere out there this boy had a mother who once caressed his hair and loved him and raised him, and is probably waiting for his next phone call to tell her he is safe and not to worry. But that’s what all mothers do, they worry. Today, tomorrow, somewhere in Syria, she is going to get horrible news, and I hope to God she never sees this picture.