https://now.mmedia.me

23/02/2015

 

The activists behind Douma’s “Cage of Death”

By Alex Rowell

 

NOW speaks to Baraa Abd al-Rahman, organizer of and participant in a now-famous demonstration likening Syrian regime airstrikes to ISIS executions

 

While atrocities committed by Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) jihadists never fail to receive prime-time television coverage and make front-page headlines, activists in opposition-held areas of Syria have long complained that the international media overlooks the violence visited upon them by the Bashar al-Assad regime — violence that, they say, is no less brutal than anything inflicted by ISIS.

Thus, when the world recoiled in horror at footage released early this month of the jihadists burning Jordanian captive Muath al-Kasasbeh alive in a metal cage, a group of activists in Douma, a suburb of Damascus subjected to intense bombardment by Assad’s air force in recent weeks, had a brainwave.

And so was born what was dubbed the “Cage of Death;” a replica of the one used in Al-Kasasbeh’s murder in which the activists on Sunday placed a group of local children — dressed in orange outfits resembling the jumpsuit the pilot had been wearing — in a symbolic gesture comparing ISIS’s execution to the regime’s killing of Douma residents (at least 55 women and children were killed by airstrikes in the neighborhood in the first 10 days of February alone, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights). The stunt was widely circulated on social media, and even made it to some established press outlets.

NOW spoke on Thursday to Baraa Abd al-Rahman, one of the organizers of and participants in the demonstration, to learn more.

NOW: How would you describe the current situation in Douma?

 

Baraa Abd al-Rahman: Today we have clouds and rain, which are preventing Assad’s planes from committing massacres against the civilians. However, there is mortar shelling.

NOW: And within the last few weeks, how has the situation been?

 

Abd al-Rahman: The situation has been tragic; a violent escalation of airstrikes and barrel bombs. In one week alone, there were more than 150 airstrikes, which completely demolished more than five neighborhoods and dozens of residential buildings on top of their residents. There were 140 killed; 40 of them children, and 20 women.

And no headquarters exist [in the areas hit] for the rebels or opposition factions.

NOW: You mean no rebels were killed by these strikes?

 

Abd al-Rahman: Not one.

NOW: Is it true there have been cases of famine in Douma?

 

Abd al-Rahman: Douma has been besieged for two years. Bashar and his soldiers prevent the entry of medicine and food into Douma. And we have no sustenance, bread, flour or any groceries. 

NOW: What have been the results of this siege? Has it caused any deaths?

 

Abd al-Rahman: Of course. We have documented the deaths of dozens of children and civilians as a result of this siege, and the hunger, and the cold, and the absence of vaccines and milk for the children.

NOW: Regarding the “Cage of Death” that has now become well-known, whose idea was that?

 

Abd al-Rahman: It was the idea of an activist named Humam al-Hasri, who is one of the media activists in Douma. We met before the initiative. We decided to make a metal cage resembling the cage of Daesh [ISIS] in which they burnt the Jordanian pilot. [We did this] to communicate to the world that the children of Douma are being burned by Bashar al-Assad just as Daesh does. And the world must bomb Bashar as they bomb Daesh. Both of them kill Syrians.

NOW: Some said the “Cage of Death” idea was excessively shocking, or unethical, and might have scared the children, for example. What is your response to that?

 

Abd al-Rahman: This is untrue. Are the children who faced massacres and chemical weapons and fighter jets and war going to be afraid of a metal cage?

NOW: What are the feelings and opinions of Douma residents regarding the firing of rockets at central Damascus by the Jaysh al-Islam rebel faction?

 

Abd al-Rahman: 90% are in favor.

NOW: Why?

 

Abd al-Rahman: Because the regime bombs the civilians [of Douma] and kills their children. So the residents want the rebels to bomb the regime in Damascus.

NOW: But some would argue Jaysh al-Islam’s bombardment kills civilians in Damascus too.

 

Abd al-Rahman: The strikes are precise, because Jaysh al-Islam has defected officers and modern technical equipment. And they have observers and operatives in Damascus watching over the targets.

NOW: Finally, there has been anger on social media from Douma activists regarding comments made by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura that Assad is “part of the solution” in Syria. What is your message to the world in reply to those remarks?

 

Abd al-Rahman: We as activists or rebels have no tension or problems with the West, or non-Muslims, or any international organization or diplomatic side. Our people are being killed every day and we want to stop the killing by any means possible.

However, de Mistura said that Bashar is part of the solution. And for us, Bashar is killing us, and killing the children of Douma and Ghouta. So [de Mistura] is complicit in the killing, because he said Bashar is part of the solution. For that reason, there was a campaign on Twitter against de Mistura’s statements. And, truly, he is complicit in our killing as long as he recognizes Assad.

We do not recognize Assad. He is a killer.