Sunday 12 May 2013

Video Shows A Member Of The Syrian Opposition Cutting Flesh Of A Corpse, And Apparently Eating It

Frequently during the Syrian conflict there's been videos that claim to show either side committing some sort of war crimes or atrocity.  As a general rule I avoid writing about these videos because there's always claims about fakery, a lack of detail beyond what's shown in the video, and so on.

However, a video has been posted today on pro-Assad channels which presents a rare occasion where it's possible gather much more information about the person involved.

The following video shows a man cutting a chuck of flesh, possible an organ, from a corpse, then biting down onto the chunk of flesh at the end of the video (GRAPHIC)


I've had the audio translated (thanks to @Syrian_scenes), rather than relying on the subtitles attached to the video
I swear by God, we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog! Takbeer! Heroes of Baba 'Amr, [inaudible] cut out their hearts to eat them!
As I said before, generally I can't do much with these videos, but in this example I instantly recognised the man wearing that distinctive jacket as appearing in other videos produced by the Independent Omar Farouk Brigades, based around Homs


In the first video he gives a short speech, which I've translated, and also allows us to match the voices in both videos to the same person
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate: The Umar al-Faruq Battalion is striking the strongholds of the Shabbiha and the Assadist Army in the village of Abel. Takbeer!
Peter N. Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch has been able to confirm the name of the man in the videos as Abu Sakkar of Baba Amro, Homs, also known as Khaled Al Hamad, a former senior figure in Al Farouq Brigade.

It's unclear how the Independent Omar Farouk Brigades is related to the Free Syrian Army, whether or not it works inside the command structure (as it is), or considers itself independent, but it does raise the question that when people are identified in videos like this what can anyone actually do about it during the conflict?

You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

11 comments:

  1. "freedom fighters" at work. Brown Moses, what's your take on the rumour of a massive string of loses being suffered by the "rebels" these days? I can't see to find any concrete mention of it in main stream media? Also, what's your take on the Turkey bomblast, does it smell false-flagish to you?

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    1. Liz Sly had a pretty substantial piece in the Washington Post about recent government gains http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/assad-forces-gaining-ground-in-syria/2013/05/11/79147c34-b99c-11e2-b568-6917f6ac6d9d_story.html

      With regards to Turkey I can imagine the group blamed for it doing something like that, it'll be interesting to see how things play out from this point onwards.

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  2. The flesh eating guy was supposedly killed some days after.

    Graphic: http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/224350_388812021232311_1840820101_n.jpg

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    1. Is it confirmed? And which facebook page tells that?

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  3. Abu Sakkar was featured in this Channel 4 piece on Al-farouq back in Septmeber 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2krSHc02MIY

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    1. A month after this - in late October 2012 - a small goup of fighters left the the al-Farouq batallions to form the kitaba Omar al-Farouq. There's a lot of muttering in the media to the effect that their relationship to the FSA is not known - but I would have thought fact that they consistently describe themselves as the independent Omar al-Farouq batallion was a bit of a giveaway.

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  4. And when did he eat it?
    I barely can see him taking flesh to his mouth. And since it seems disgusting no one could chew or swallow it just like that. He doesnt seem to care abuot being identified either as I guess the message is clearly destined to the shabiha. Though I cant imagine what this guy has been through to make him mutilate a corpse like that. But I know for sure that the mutilatons and torture of shabiha and assadists are more gory and hardcore than that and enormously far more numerous. Well I guess he could be sued or blamed for it if he lives to the end of conflict...

    A part from that isnt there a serious news feed about the fanatic shia militias and mercenaries (from Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, pakistan, ...) that are helping the regime lately? By the look of it seems there is almost no more Syrian Army save few pockets in Damascus, Idlib and the north. I want even be suprised to see Assad bring african mercenaries like his pal Kerdafi.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Yes sure ... it's completely justified ... plus didn't you see him say "Allah Akbar" before he eats it ... it's clearly "Halal" Now ..so ... no problems

      What ever makes you believe man ... what ever makes you believe.

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    3. No I can't justify his action but I surely can understand the motives.
      The guy said to the journalists that he saw a video in the cell phone of the killed shabih humiliating a naked woman and her daughters.
      Adding to that the previous massacres aigainst civilians in Homs, and now the attempts of barbaric ethnical cleansing against sunnis of the firmly alawite controlled Banyas...
      If at least the assadits had some real military discpline then there shouldnt be a problem. They can kill all the combatants of the opposition if they are able to, but they must keep their hands off the civilians and cease the atrocities! For the other side are armed civilians who may be enclined from time to time to ignore the rules and serve "justice" as they see fit.

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  5. Yes sure ... it's completely justified ... plus didn't you see him say "Allah Akbar" before he eats it ... it's clearly "Halal" Now ..so ... no problems Claims Pages Documents: Insurance claims pages forms.

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