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Syria: Regime Assailants Kill Blogger's Mother

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Syria, Citizen Media, Human Rights, Politics, War & Conflict

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011 [1].

Syrian blogger [2] and activist [3] Marcell Shehwaro, from Aleppo, lost her mother Marina, when government assailants shot at the car she was in early this morning. Netizens from around the world mourn their friend for her loss.

From Beirut, the co-founder and director of Arab Digital Expression Foundation Ranwa Yehia tweets:

@ranwayehia [4]: when tragedy hits home, all of a sudden the pain of thousands accumulating hits in one big wave & crushes u RIPMarianne

Marcel and her mother in a poster made and shared by Jordanian blogger Mohammed Al Qaq on Facebook paying tribute to the martyred mother [5]

Marcel and her mother in a poster made and shared by Jordanian blogger Mohammed Al Qaq on Facebook paying tribute to the martyred mother

In three tweets, Yehia quotes Marcel, reacting to her mother's death saying:

اول تعليق للمدونة السورية مارسيل شحوارو بعد استشهاد والدتها برصاص النظام ليلة البارحة في ‎‫#حلب‬‏: “كل الوقت كنت متوقعة الموقف يكون بالعكس. ١/٢
@ranwayehia [6]: These are the first comments by Syrian blogger Marcell Shehwaro after the martyrdom of her mother who was killed by the Syrian regime's bullets last night. “All the time, I expected the situation to be the opposite 1/3
تابع “أنو أنا اللي عم روح عالموت برجليي استشهد وتبكي عليي وكنت دايما اقنعها انو تتذكر أنو هاد خياري وقضيتي وما تزعل عليي!” ٢/٣
@ranwayehia [7]: continuation: “I thought that I would be the one who would walk to death on her own feet and that I would be martyred and that she would cry on me. I would always try and convince her that this is my choice and my cause and that she shouldn't be sad for me 2/3

تابع “بس أبداً ما كنت متوقعة الوجع يكون بالعكس” ٣/٣

@ranwayehia [8]: What I never expected was for the pain to be reversed.”

In a post dated May 27, Marcel writes [ar]:

عندي أم كلما بتفتح عالأورينت ، بتدور ع وشي بين صور اللي استشهدو او اعتقلو .. وأمي بتحبني قد ما أمك بتحبك ،
وبجي بشوف عيونها هالقد من البكي لما بتسمع ” وأني طالع اتظاهر ودماتي بإيديا وان جيتك يما شهيد ما تبكين عليا “.
I too have a mother who looks for my photograph among those martyred and detained every time the news is on. My mother loves me as much as yours does and I see how much she cries every time she heads the song: “And I am going out to protest and am holding my life in my hands. If I return to you a martyr, please don't cry on me.”

A screenshot of Marcell's Facebook update in which she describes the circumstances of her mother's murder shared by Rahaf Konbaz on Twitter [9]

A screenshot of Marcell's Facebook update in which she describes the circumstances of her mother's murder shared by Rahaf Konbaz on Twitter

Meanwhile, Rahaf Konbaz shares [10]a screenshot of a Marcell's Facebook update on Twitter. In her update she writes:

They suspected the car my mother was in with another young woman and a young man because the car was being driven in the opposite direction on a street which didn't have a sign which said which direction traffic was supposed to flow in. The guards whose guns had ammunition did not care…to shoot in the air .. to shoot at the car tires .. they insisted on shooting the car. The car escaped the shooting and passed them. They discovered it was a car, whose occupants did not fire at them but the person who took the decision to shoot continued to shoot. Shooting means shooting..
So the guards, who are members of the party, shoot the car from behind. That simple.
This bullet cost my mother her life and prevented her from being in my life.
To those who believe that it is armed gangs. It is armed gangs who killed my mother. They are the armed gangs who make up this regime.

Netizens from around the world conveyed their heartfelt condolences to Marcell for her loss on both Facebook and Twitter.

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011 [1].