Daraya Chemical Incident, November 30, 2012

The First Bodies Tossed Across Obama's "Red Line" in Syria
Part 3.5: Daraya Chemical Incident, November 30, 2012
August 16, 2018
(rough, incomplete, updates to 8/20)

This is one of the earliest and murkiest chemical incidents I hadn't even noticed until just now. 3 men and perhaps a teenage boy as well, killed in Daraya or, actually, nearby Moadamiya, west Ghouta, on or around November 30, 2012.

First, the context: other alleged fatal attacks and reports around the same time, mostly in East and West Ghouta, and especially here in Daraya:

* 11/17, a single displaced child from Douma killed in East Ghouta 

* 11/23, a single displaced child from Douma killed  in East Ghouta 

** http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/02/what-happened-little-ways-from-douma-in.html

* 11/30: Daraya/Moadamiya, 3 men killed: with this plugged in, we have a strangely clear pattern of one alleged attack every week in this build up. And this unnoticed incident is most likely what spurred Obama to reirterate his "red line" threat/offer on December 3. Then reported-as incidents begin, on the same schedule:
* 12/6, reports of the army launching chemical weapons in Daraya, no word on casualties
** http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/11/what-happened-december-6-and-22-2012-in.html
* 12/8, vague reports of some chemical use in Aleppo
* Mid-December: Questions have arisen about the most prominent incident yet, that 11/30 one? Accusations chill. 
* 12/22, reports of Syrian soldiers advancing on militants in Daraya, attacked with some yellow gas that causes 7 of them to die within an hour.
** http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/11/what-happened-december-6-and-22-2012-in.html
* 12/23, not to distract, but Assad forces killed 7 civilian men with chemical hand grenade that emit white smoke, up in Homs... This becomes the leading claim of Assad CW use, but is questioned and soon shelved. Accusations otherwise chill until March 19, 2013, where most half-informed folks start the CW attacks narrative. Some odd things there...
http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/02/what-happened-on-march-19-2013.html

Victim, Mohemed Quraitem:
Mohammad Anwar Quraitem
Muhammed was known as Abu al-Nour. He was one of the first people to call for dignity and freedom …
https://english.enabbaladi.net/martyrs/

Between August 20-25, hundreds of Darayya residents were massacred after the regime stormed the city, shelling it and carrying house-to-house raids. It was the most dramatic moment in the city's recent history, and it deeply affected the Enab Baladi team. The trauma caused by the loss of friends and relatives and the death of one of the project’s co-founders, Mohammad Quraitem, soon after, led to the subsequent decentralization of the project, which spread to other cities. They started publishing in the northern areas free of regime control, such as Raqqa, Aleppo and Idlib, where there was more room for work.
http://syriauntold.com/2014/02/grapes-of-my-country/

Kholoud Helmi, founder of Enab Baladi newspaper: “The first one we lost was the CEO, Mohammad Quraitem. He took the decision to stay in my hometown after we left and he was killed by a missile that hit his home...."
https://www.bigissuenorth.com/features/2018/05/womans-place-resistance/

Victim: Abdulrahim Sharbaji, aka Abu Musab:
claims Abu Musab defied the regime in 2011, was arrested brutally, held for 28 days, then released by court order. He was urged by his mother to flee, but preferred to remain under threat of warplane bombing.
On Wednesday, November 28, 2012, an air strike targeted the house where he was staying with his nephew Marwan
and his companion, Mohammed Qoreitem, with a rocket believed to carry poisonous gases
Their pure blood tells the soil of the homeland and their pure souls rise in the sky. With a new dawn.
Dec 2012 https://www.enabbaladi.net/archives/4906

11/30 Incident Details

Martyred: November 28, 2012

On Wednesday 28 of November 2012, touch was lost with Abu al-Nour when he went to see his life-long friend Abdul Rahim Sharbaji and his friend Marwan Sharbaji in their house in Moadamiya. His visit coincided with a number of raids by Mig warplanes over the area. Missiles were dropped which likely carried toxic gas substances. On Friday 30th of November and after two days of searching for him, he was found a martyr in the house of his friends and beside him are his friends, Abdul Rahim and Marwan Sharbaji, in a very bad shape because many missiles dropped on the house and no one could reach them.

https://english.enabbaladi.net/martyrs/

Mohammed Anwar Qraitem, 34, Daraya, Graduate of psychology -Media Activist

2012-11-30, shelling

Known as (Abu al-Nour), He was martyred as a result of the random shelling in the city. Participated in various service and revolutionary business in the city was arrested in 2003 as a result of his participation in field activities including clean-up campaigns and the fight against corruption,  One of the most wanted since the beginning of the revolution. Has two daughters, Reem and Yara.

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45532#.W3VS3vZFzuh

Nov. 30 video Local Council of Daraya city - Media Center

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkOc9hGas1M

The martyrs Mohammed Qoreitem and Abu Musab al - Shurbaji (plus an unnamed and not-messed-up teenage boy, also not wounded, poss. suffocation case - hands tied in front is for body handling, not hostage binding - prob. not a clue)

Marwan not seen. 

Nov 30 video, "DarayaCity Syria"

Daria, three martyrs of suffocation with toxic gases

suffocation of three Martyrs with poison gas
Martyr Abu Musab al - Sharbaji
And the martyr Mohammed Anwar Koreitem "Abu Nur"
And the martyr Marwan al-Sharbaji

We do not confirm or deny that they have been exposed to chemical and leave it to the experts in this field

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y3k_zM55Sc

damaged door, going to the alley, around the back side, 5 pairs of footwear outside.
Just inside the door Abdelrahman's body is laid - dusty footprints all around. 

in the bathroom, Mohammed Quraitem, laying flat, black liquid smeared all around, toilet askew, tipped over washbasin, bizarre scene...

Marwan not seen. The boy not seen. 

Seen later, face apparently washed off some but stained...


Abdelrahim, 68, 2012-11-30, shelling
Known as (Abu Mosa'ab ), He was martyred as a result of the random shelling in the city
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45531#.W3VPqfZFzuh

The shelling did something in particular to his hand (wrists?) and his face (enhanced views below). Notes coming but for the record, not a clear case of the later "Douma mask of death." Quite similar though... bizarre. Considered below.

Marwan 47 real estate office owner, 11-30, shelling
Known as (Abu Eyas), He was martyred as a result of the random shelling in the city
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45542#.W3VP3vZFzuh

??? Looks more Like Mohamed.

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45533#.W3VRAfZFzug
Hamdi Salem Abu al-Laban, 17, non-civilian, FSA, Daraya, 2012-11-30, shelling
He was martyred as a result of the random shelling in the city

Clinical Signs

What the hell happened to these guys???

The date ambiguity and mention of "bad shape' due to inaccessibility suggests the bodies had decayed some, explaining the odd features. But note the victims' bent knees seen in situ, are about the same after gathering and display. this means rigor mortis, which fades in and out within a day or so. These guys have probably been dead at least 8-10 hours, and perhaps more than 24 hours, but not 2 days. If they were decaying, it would take longer to be visible, and would look different.

I realize these don't look like chemical weapons victim should, but they might look like some insane idiot's impression of what they would look like. They don't look like much else that makes sense either. 

Of the three messed-up victims, 2 look similar: gray face with little marks. Maran has white foam visibly coming from his mouth and nose. that suggests pulmonary edema, fluid buildup in the lungs, consistent with a few chemicals, and other causes.

As for Abdelrahim's strange face - I've been considering this with others on Twitter. There's one view that the marks are blood he was laid face down in - not a puddle, but soaked into fabric, perhaps. That seems possible, but ...

To me, it looks more like a non-washing, permanent stain or burn of the skin - possibly a flammable material splashed or wiped on, then lit up. Possibly a chemical applied that was then exposed to another chemical and became corrosive. The cleared are around his eyes could be explained by the glasses he sometimes wore. https://www.enabbaladi.net/archives/4906 (picture included in the graphic below)

What might explain this: wearing glasses, and squinting in anticipation (green lines), Abdelrahim was splashed in the face with some flammable liquid with a slight angle from below, and angling higher up on the right side (our left). Perhaps unbound, he removed his glasses after, wiped his eyes (closed, but eyebrows up) and his (furrowed) forehead, and his mouth fairly clean, except at: the facial hair line, and his uppermost forehead furrow. The backs of his hands are black-gray. Cheek is gray (upper, cheekbone area and lower, jawline area. Next, maybe some heat source was blasted on his face right at his nose, still coated: This burns black. Further away areas still coated ignite briefly and burn the skin red. Cheek and hands, farter away, stay gray.

And other possibilities exist. 

other sources:
https://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/12/02/252905.html (dead link, said to report on this story)

LCC daily Syria News updates, via Uruknet.info
Nov 28
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m93058&fb=1
Damascus Suburbs: Heavy shelling with missile launchers and heavy artillery is reported at the cities of Mouadamyeh and Daraya. Also, gaseous and poisonous bombs were thrown, these react on the ground, release oxygen and result in suffocation. (if release oxygen means consume oxygen, this sounds like vacuum or fuel-air bombs. That could explain a damaged home, a burned face, 2 (fuel-coated?) faces, and 3-4 cases of suffocation. But I don't think that's it, considering)
Also noted: "Mudamit Al ShamDamascus : 2 month old baby taking his last breaths due to injuries sustained by bombing with warplanes" (video deleted)

November 29, 2012 http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m93083&fb=1
Warplanes Spray Gases on Daraya and Kafersouseh in Damascus suburbs
(video just shows a large dust cloud rising in the distance)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZWkffVkMVA

Nov 30 http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m93118&fb=1
includes videos noted here: "Martyrs Muhammed Anwar Quraitem, Abdulraheem Sharbaji and Hamdi Abu Laban in Daraya, Damascus Suburbs" - "result of Suffocation by Toxic Gases in Daraya, Damascus Suburbs"
Text updates include: "Damascus Suburbs: Daraya: Three people were martyred at the hand of regime forces, their names are: Abdelraheem AlSharbeeni, Mohammad Anwar Qretiam, and Hamdi Abolaban."

Family Targeting? Quraitem

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/ar/martyrs/1/c29ydGJ5PWEua2lsbGVkX2RhdGV8c29ydGRpcj1ERVNDfGFwcHJvdmVkPXZpc2libGV8ZXh0cmFkaXNwbGF5PTB8MT0lRDklODIlRDglQjElRDklOEElRDglQjclRDklODV8

first:Mumen Sayah Quraytem, Car Sprayer, shot by the Air Force Security agents 2012-02-04
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/14122
Then two soldiers killed by "Armed opposition factions"
Fadi amer Qreitim, with "Regime's army" killed by shooting, 2012-06-09
www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/18553
Sergeant Kheder Reda Qretem of "Regime's army" killed by shooting, 2012-07-10.
born in in Ghour (Shia town next to Houla?) killed in Sayeda Zainab (Shia suburb of Damascus)
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/ar/details/martyrs/68234
Only the latter appears in the usual place for killed soldiers: not martyrs, just "other statistics."
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/otherstatistics/68234

Then 2 killed by "shelling" just before Daraya massacre, 2 killed in it (one in the cemetery, by a sniper), then Mohamed in November, then Quraitems mostly die in Hayan, Aleppo, starting abpout a month later.
1-03-13 5 Quraitem killed in Hayan - Martyred due the air raid on the town
10-09-13 5 Quraitem killed in Hayan - Several civilians martyred in a massacre caused by regime's mortar shelling from Zahraa town
July 29-30 and Aug. 12, 2016: 15 apparently related Quraitems killed in 2 rounds of warplane shelling, first the men, then the women and children. Non-maiden names for the women suggest possible Christians. But all these in Hayan are some distance to be clearly applicable to the same name in Daraya.

http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2016/08/syria-hayan-missile-massacre.html

Family Targeting? Sharbaji
Sharbajis of the peaceful sort were being killed and disappeared in Daraya in these days and for about a year -

Ousama Mozher Shurbaje, 28, farmer 2012-11-26

Detention - Torture - Execution

Known as (Abu Tieser). His body was delivered by Mwasat hospital in 26-11-2012 after he was arrested in 22-11-2012 in a farm in Darkhabya area

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/44831#.W3VQM_ZFzuh

Mohammed al-Shurbaji, fireman, 11-25, shooting

Son of (Abu Majed). Martyred by sniper gunfire

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45007#.W3VQePZFzuh

Nabil was arrested in February, perhaps released and arrested more secretly in late January, 2013, app. photographed dead at Hospital 601 sometime in February, 2013 ("Caesar photos"), then claimed killed on April 3, and again more widely publicized on May 3, 2015.

http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2018/08/caesar-photos-victim-profile-nabil.html

Mohamed, Yehya, Maan, etc...

(Nidal Sharbaji) is a graduate of the Media College in Damascus and one of the leaders of the peaceful movement in Daria, and of the activists' partners Yahya Sharbji and Ghayath Matar

http://www.skeyesmedia.org/ar/News/Syria/1057

Relative activists? Two brothers, Maan and Yehya Sharbaji, perhaps cousins of his, also featured in the Caesar photos story, or maybe just through the newer expanded civil registry story, which I need to look at some more. They came up there as confirmed dead. The proof of regime murder: he was believed to be held in their prisons (evidence, perhaps...), and now they have a record - "he is listed in civil records as having died on January 15, 2013. 

https://eaworldview.com/2018/07/how-assad-regime-killed-man-roses-death-activist-yahya-sharbaji/

There are no details on the place or cause of death." Hundreds have supposedly been identified as dead in recent weeks as civil registries are updated - some were reported to be incommunicado regime prisoners, like Nabil Sharbaji, some also seen in the Caesar photos. 

https://globalvoices.org/2018/08/05/after-years-of-silence-and-denial-assad-regime-issues-death-certificates-to-disappeared-prisoners/

Sharbaji - Yehya and Mohamed arrested, a Ghiath Matar killed in the arrest

Yehya was executed in Saydnaya years ago and that Mohammad passed away due to illness and lack of medical care in prison.

http://www.shrc.org/en/?p=24669

App. brothers Yeyha and Mohamed appear, but named Matar

VDC lists Yehya and Mohamed as killed around their arrest time in a massacre?

…

Sept. 6

Syria News - September 6, 2011 (Warning: Graphic Videos)

http://www.uruknet.info/?new=81203

Daraya: The activist Yahya Sharbaji, born 1979, was detained this morning in the city of Daraya in an ambush that was set up by security forces. They exploited his family ties, as they had detained his brother Maan Sharbaji before and forced him to call his brother and ask him to come rescue him, claiming he had been shot in his foot during a raid of his home. The injury could not yet be confirmed. As Yahya was taken to his brother’s house by his friend Ghiath Matar, security forces emerged from hiding, chasing the activists before abducting them. It is well known that Yahya Sharbaji is one of the most prominent young acitivsts that advocates a commitment to the peaceful struggle of the Syrian revolution and contributed to many initiatives to ensure the peaceful nature of the movement and the unity of Syrians. For that, he gave flowers and water to soldiers and members of the security forces during demonstrations.

Ghiath Matar, killed by gangs, seen w/lashes and gunshots on video

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/world/middleeast/in-syrian-town-uprising-turns-into-grim-standoff.html

The government told Mr. Mattar’s family that he had been shot by “armed gangs,” a phrase that has become a euphemism that the government uses to describe its opposition.

Four days later, Mr. Mattar was dead, and footage showed he had suffered from burns, lashes and bullet wounds. The fate of Mr. Sharbaji remains unknown.

when a group of 15 people, including his 80-year-old mentor, Jawdat Said, a Muslim scholar who advocates political change through nonviolence, tried to see if he was in the hospital, guards denied he was there and prohibited them from entering.

Family Targeting? Abo al-Laban

VDC, All Laban matyrs from Daraya, and it's Abo/Abu al-Laban we're looking for: Just 15, mostly sporadic, but first is:
Sami Mahmoud Qet al-Laban, "Defected Soldier" killed 2011-08-12 by Field Execution
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/14115#.W3p-o_ZFzIU
Notes: 'He was a soldier in Lattakia, who was sent to Homs on a task to suppress the demonstrators, where he escaped from Security Forces so that he does not kill protesters. Hence, he was killed." So he didn't really escape into the arms of the Islamists, just tried to...

- 4 Abu al-Laban civilians killed in the time frame of the August 2012 Daraya Massacre (mostly of hostages held by retreating Islamists, it seems). Then Four Abu al-Laban with FSA killed 11-23 to 12-18, 2012 (the boy above is the second one.)

Last entries, and none since: two men identified as tortured detainees in March, 2015, meaning "Caesar photos" identification. One has the photo shown, and its date clashes with their reported arrest date. details moved to http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2018/08/caesar-photos-victim-profile-ahmed-and.html

Two Other Victims?
Dec 1 http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m93154&fb=1
Syria News - December 1, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos)
Local Coordination Committees of Syria + Videos
Mudamit Al Sham, Damascus, Martyr child Mohamed Jamal Ziada,originally from Dareya. Mohamed was killed from injuries he sustained due to shelling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyezSmJAARM
He was already noted November 29, closer to the Nov. 28-30 incident in/near Daraya/involving Daraya people...  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m93083&fb=1
Child Martyr Ahmed Ziadeh from Daraya 

VDC lists him as dying that day: Ahmad Jamal Zyade http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45476#.W3pdw_ZFzIU
… along with a brother, Mu`ayd Jamal Ziadeh, both from Daraya, "Martyred due to Aircraft shelling. he was buried in Mouadamyah" http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45477#.W3pdxfZFzIU
No images for Mu'ayd, but Ahmad has the video, and an ugly photo at VDC. Comparing - left, video: Recently washed hair and face - unclear wounds/material/hair/stains across the eyebrows, forehead, temple. No wounds seen, blood from mouth and nose … heavy pink foam? Bloody pulmonary edema? It would mainly come out the mouth, being too thick to come out the nose. Later, as the air bubbles pop, the blood will come out more easily. Later, he would look bloodier, and more purple - the purple seems worse higher up the head, including in the eyes, perhaps damaged - his right eye seems badly swollen. Unclear small dots appear on his face. Plenty of fresh blood coming out the nose. Still can't see if there is or isn't any external injury to his body, or if this was maybe a chemical inhalation injury. Considering what we see here, what was going on all around in time and space, I suspect both of these "displaced" kids were horribly killed with caustic gas, as some of the first bodies tossed across Obama's Red Line. 

Caesar Photos Victim Profile: Nabil Sharbaji

Caesar Photos Victim Profile:
Nabil Sharbaji: Back To Life, Just to Die Again
Aug. 14, 2018
(rough, incomplete)
updates 2018-12-23

<< Fail Caesar {Masterlist}

The Smithsonian museum a while back put on display scraps of cloth with the names and details of some 82 people alleged to be detainees in Syria's Mezzeh prison back in 2012, some of who were killed. As the story goes, these were scrawled secretly under penalty of death, using blood and rust for ink and a chicken bone for a quill, on pieces of someone's shirts. An article in Smithsonian magazine (online) explained, they chose to display the scraps, and the allegations that came sewn up with them, "in part, to combat the denialism of atrocities occuring in Syria, which comes from places like Russia," citing Cameron Hudson, who runs the Smithsonian's Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, "but also, as Hudson points out, western outlets that refute or underplay the significance of what’s going on."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/these-cloths-tell-story-worst-humanitarian-crisis-this-generation-180967767/#xurY1IF0X9uFzsrP.99

Here's one of these to show what they look like. These scraps were first publicized in the March, 2017 documentary "Syria's Disappeared: The Case Against Assad" (Channel 4). They were supposedly smuggled out in late 2012, but they've never been mentioned in over four years? What a story to sit on for so long. The named smuggler, and the primary storyteller behind the list, is activist Mansour Al-Omari. He's writing (or wrote?) a book about his hell in prison. There's a film version of his dramatic story: 82 Names. He reads some harrowing passages, explains the 82 names list, ties in Holocaust stuff - all quite moving.

https://www.ushmm.org/online/calendar/eventDetails.php?event=MA82NAMESFILM0618

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxVXedCFbGU&index=1&list=PLWQC3P4psZP7m-3joCYo59XSIXvjK1QM8

Here's Omari humbly serving his duty to history. From Syria's Disappeared: The Case Against Assad

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/on-demand/65453-001

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkpeKOGv2Wg

This post is about the guy who wrote this list, allegedly. Nabil Walid Al-Shurbaji (Arabic: نبيل وليد شربجي ), an anti-corruption, anti-smoking, etc. activist and journalist, from Daraya. (see VDC Arabic detainee entry - to see the English, replace /ar in the url with /en and reload.) The photo is from there, but not app. of him in jail, just behind some bars. Right?

For what it's worth, Mansour Al-Omari worked in the detainees department of the VDC, and would manage entries like his, besides being an alleged cellmate for some time. According to Mr. Omari, and it's not clear who else, Nabil held on for over three years behind bars before he was finally martyred in May, 2015.

In Syria's Disappeared, Mansour al-Omari mentions others helping write these notes, but it sounds like his idea, here and elsewhere. He says the list-maker in him just urged it. Sharbaji is not mentioned there. But in his NYT op-ed and elsewhere, Omari gives full credit. He's the main source for all stories, this gist of which are Nabil had the best handwriting, so he took responsibility for using the chicken bones and blood/rust "ink" to document everyone present. Also it was his shirt the list was sewn into by the tailor, who also offered the first blood for their ink, from his scurvied gums.

Shortly before the 2017 airing of Omari's story, in December 2016, an Arabic-language website was running reports about Nabil Shurbaji's numerous blood dispatches.  Who Killed Nabil Sharbaji? - english.enabbaladi.net, December 2016
https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2016/12/killed-nabil-shurbaji/
From his cell, Nabil wrote down in blood from a bleeding cellmate’s gums mixed with rust, the names, telephone numbers and place of residence of all his cellmates, on pieces of cloth, for it to be smuggled out of prison. The cloth, which was part of a shirt belonging to another inmate, was smuggled out by the journalist Mansour al-Omari when he transferred to Adra Central prison.

There were 57 prisoners to document this way when they started. The number of prisoners changed over the long span required, so 82 names were included in the end. That's a lot of blood, rust, surely several chicken-bone quills, and a long time to wonder things like "do we really need to put all their addresses and phone numbers?"

This detainee is now a matter of history, worthy of a little more detailed examination. His detention(s) and death(s) under them have spurred protests, rumors, some unknown confusion. 

https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2016/12/documenting-darkness-stepping-inside-syrian-prisons/#ixzz5OI9AZuPI

"Nabil had hopes of surviving more than once and we let him down each time."

By reports, he died, survived, and died again a few times. Now for the first time, the full stories told together. It works best as a bullet-list chronology. 

* March 16, 2011: First arrest: day 2 of the uprising
** "first detained by security forces on 16 March 2011. He was released after 17 days..."
http://fawzyelshorbagy.blogspot.com/2016/09/blog-post_96.html September, 2016which reflects a HRW Arabic list from 2013: https://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2013/10/01/251312

* Early April, 2011: released

* Probably sometime that winter 2011/2012: Nabil at liberty, seeming to enjoy life and the snow

* Jan. 29, helps launch Enabbaladi news paper: "Sharbaji is one of the most prominent founders of Enab Baladi and the only academic journalist among the team at that time. Nabil edited the news in the first issues of Enab Baladi and he also filmed, with his own camera and voice, the announcement of the launch of “issue-zero” on 29 January 2012."

https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2017/01/enab-baladi-five-years-amateur-professional/

Nabil Sharbaji, the seed of al-Arishah

* Feb 26, 2012: Second arrest:
** "The Syrian regime arrested Nabil on February 26th, 2012 in Daraya. prison." https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2016/12/killed-nabil-shurbaji/
** VDC detainee entry: Nabeel Waleed Shurbaji 30 Daraya, Journalist and Activist, detained 2-26-2012,  It is the Second detention for him.
www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/detainees/38473#.W3GCr_ZFzug
** HRW: "arrested on 26 February 2012 From an Air Force checkpoint in the Thawra district of Badariya, while driving to a friend's house. Two of Nabil's friends who were with him that day informed his family of his arrest." https://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2013/10/01/251312
** video Feb. 26 2012 "Darya chants chanting for peaceful activist Nabil al-Sharbaji in Kafarsousa"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdSaSdTflNA

* Late Feb., 2012 to ??: Detention was initially at: "At air force intelligence center near the Mezzah military airport in Damascus. The center was under the supervision of Maher al-Assad, the brother of President Bashar al-Assad and one of the most feared men in Syria’s security services." NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/opinion/what-i-smuggled-from-a-syrian-prison.html
** "Nabil spent the first period of his detention in the Air Force’s investigation department in Mezzah airport in Damascus. Later he was transferred several times, including to Adra central prison and then to Saydnaya prison."" https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2016/12/killed-nabil-shurbaji/
** "Former detainees told Nabil's family said that they had seen him at the detention center of the air force in Mazzeh…" HRW

* Before February was out: "Former detainees of Nabil's family said that they had seen him at the detention center of the air force in Mazzeh and that in February 2012 the officials had transferred him to Adra (central prison)." HRW 

* June, 2012: held with Mansour Al-Omari of the VDC, and 55 other men in a cell Mezzah (initial locale, before immediate transfer to Adra reported above).  Omari: “"The colonel told me he wouldn’t accuse me of gun possession,” my cellmate Nabil Shurbaji told me happily one evening in June 2012." NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/opinion/what-i-smuggled-from-a-syrian-prison.html

* Up to November: making the list at Mezzah: his first and so far only "message"
** "The first of Nabil’s messages was on another detainee’s shirt on which Nabil wrote the names of his cellmates with blood and rust. The journalist Mansour al-Omari smuggled it out when he was released."  https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2017/01/nabil-sharbaji-syria-not-mark-absent/#ixzz5O3EAH3Lh
** "Shurbaji, Omari, and the others agreed: Whoever was released first would wear Shurbaji's shirt. The scraps would be hidden inside the collar and cuffs." https://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/middleeast/2017/12/fabric-mansour-omari-syria-secret-prisons-171207173316895.html

* Nov. 14, 2012, Mansour al-Omari released: "the jailer called my name, and shouted through the hole in the steel door: “Get your stuff ready, and wait by the door, bastard!” I knew that meant I would be released for good. I put on Nabil’s shirt." He was transferred to Adra, then released  on Feb. 5, 2013. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/opinion/what-i-smuggled-from-a-syrian-prison.html

* Late 2012 - May, 2015: Nabil continues 3-year imprisonment: 

** "Nabil struggled against his fate for three years. He did not want to die. He used to sing “Raj’een ya Hawa” (Oh love, we will return) silently, so the jailers would not hear him. He wanted to go back to life." https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2016/12/killed-nabil-shurbaji/

** "Nabil was later transferred to the Fourth Division in al-Saboura mountain before being transferred to Adra Central Prison and finally to Saydnaya Prison. Inmates in Saydnaya said that he died of illness in May 2015." (sounds like an uninterrupted span there) https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2017/01/nabil-sharbaji-syria-not-mark-absent/#ixzz5O3EAH3Lh

* December, 2012: Nabil is "brought before a judge at the military court in Qabun in December." HRW 

* unknown: Nabil released?

* Jan. 30/31 2013: third arrest?

** VDC killed entry 1: "arrested 63 days ago" to death date April 3, 2013 = Jan 30 http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/72905#.W3FSo_ZFzug

** Facebook tribute page: "... the last appearance of Martyr Nabil in 2013/1/31" Coincidence? 

https://www.facebook.com/475876922480181/photos/a.475945665806640.1073741826.475876922480181/481614548573085/?type=3

* Feb 8, 2013: newly jailed 

** "confirmed in the darkness of detention on Friday, 8 February..." https://www.facebook.com/475876922480181/photos/a.475945665806640.1073741826.475876922480181/478944052173468/?type=3

* Feb. 11, 2013: seen in Adra central prison www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/detainees/38473#.W3GCr_ZFzug

* Feb. 17, 2013: "Update: A relative told Human Rights Watch that he was transferred on 17 February to Sednaya prison after being brought before a judge at the military court in Qabun in December. Security forces in Sednaya prison in December refused to ask his family to visit Nabil Sharbaji there." (?translation issue perhaps?) https://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2013/10/01/251312

* February, 2013: Nabil appears dead in the "Caesar photos."   

The photo below shown with alive pictures as both showing Nabil by SHRC:
 http://www.shrc.org/en/?p=24669 

and by the VDC in a second entry upon this photo ID 
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/145394#.W3FdmPZFzuh

The Caesar photos were released, first to select channels for initial IDs in early March, 2015, then soon published online around March 15. Nabil was identified by someone as thus guy, on or before March 9. From my files, I found t
he photo is on the SAFMCD site as j-9092-2-2013 (2). http://safmcd.com/martyr/view.php?id=3581
or use the red number 435514 to search in the search box there.

The data claims he was held by AF Intel, branded the Arabic equivalent of J, as an abbreviation for that. J numbers are often non-sequential, but make sense in his stretch j-9090, 9091, 9094 all appear, and all dated 2-2013. That's the folder date for February, 2013. The given date seems to be the start of collection, but this has no day (the 1st?). There's also an odd 2-28 folder and then one for March, so it's before the 28th, barring a fluke misplacement. He doesn't look to have been held along, absorbed very much abuse, neglect, or starvation, compared to most. Was he one of those meant to stay recognizable?

Note: even if one doubts that February date, or the victim match, whoever that is must be dead by Aug. 20, 2013, when "Caesar" fled with the last of his collected photos. No one who died after this should be seen in the photos.

* April 3, 2013: Nabil has been tortured to death, buried in secret, just now

Did someone know he was dead, and decide to finally release the news, after a longer implied detention?
** VDC killed entry #1: Nabil al-Sharbaji, age 32, Occupation: French Teacher - Activist. Matching photo, from Daraya - same guy. Date of death: 2013-04-03"he was tortured to death after being arrested 63 days ago by air security forces" = Jan. 30, 2013 detention http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/72905#.W3FSo_ZFzug

** The VDC cites Nabil tribute Facebook page: April 3: "After 63 days of detention... He was martyred under torture in occupation prisons since 8 February 2013" [sic - that doesn't add up right]

** April 4: not certain: "It is not possible to ensure that any detainee is killed under torture in the absence of handing over bodies to martyrs."

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=476224865778720&id=475876922480181

** message from his wife, perhaps named Safaa: "we don't have news until we see his body..."

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=476218872445986&id=475876922480181

** April 12: "confirmed … buried in an unknown place"

https://www.facebook.com/475876922480181/photos/a.475945665806640.1073741826.475876922480181/478944052173468/?type=3

** https://twitter.com/SyrianMartyrs/status/319524098055229441

But no, that must have been some confusion. The rumors were unfounded. The man lives on! At least, according to the best-informed guy on all this:

* April 15, 2013: Nabil pens another blood letter to the same Mahmoud Omari, who later shared it with the media. It says:
** “Mansour, my friend, I was so sad when you left us. I tried to continue what you started, but I could not, because the conditions have changed a lot, and it has become too difficult… We are now 90 people in one room. I miss singing together and you telling us stories of films, and missed when you and ****** annoyed when I wanted to rest… Oh God, we came back to life, my friend, at the tune of the song: (we are coming back) Raj’een ya Hawa… Peace be upon you. Adra Central Prison. 15/04/2013.”
https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2016/12/killed-nabil-shurbaji/
He tries to continue writing everyone's names in blood, but he couldn't... he explains, writing in blood? At great length? 

No, another article shows the letter, looking like he got hold of a pen and paper somehow. 

https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2016/12/documenting-darkness-stepping-inside-syrian-prisons/#ixzz5OI9AZuPI

* July, 2013: a cited letter: "By: Nabil Walid Sharbaji… Adra Central Prison July 2013 hallucinations seem to me days with all its difficulties very fast, but when... " (citation ends, original link is dead) 

https://twitter.com/Hananlakoud/status/813704320818511872

* August, 2013 or later: 

** "The last and most painful letter he wrote was a eulogy for his brother, Omar, who died defending Daraya in August 2013. Nabil wrote, “In all the twenty-nine years of my life, it never took me a long time to become convinced of something or believe in it or make peace with it, but this time it will take me all of eternity to believe that his sun has set and to realize that I have lost Omar forever.”

https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2017/01/nabil-sharbaji-syria-not-mark-absent/#ixzz5O3LoqnZV
Painful indeed - that's a lot of blood.

** Note VDC has no entry for an Omar Sharbaji killed this month. But they list Omar Al-Shurbaji, 45, Daraya, as detained on August 31, but "Detention date is inaccurate. Known Abu Husain." 

www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/detainees/55923#.W3GCxvZFzug

* August 9, 2013: VDC detainees database, run by former cellmate Al-Omari; adds that Sharbaji was "seen in Adra central prison on 09-08-2013"
www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/detainees/38473#.W3GCr_ZFzug

* Sept. 21, 25, 2013: same says he was seen in Mazzah Military Airport - Air Force Intelligence on 21-09-2013 … His case has been transferred to Court on 25/09/2013
www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/detainees/38473#.W3GCr_ZFzug

* Oct. 1, 2013: is or recently was seen alive by family in Adra, per HRW: "Some members of Nabil's family, who have been able to visit him once in Adra, where he is still there, said that his legal status is unclear. Officials told Nabil that he would face trial before a military court in the field, but he did not meet a judge and was not informed of the charges against him." https://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2013/10/01/251312

* Oct. 2013-2014-early 2015: No sighting or letters mentioned. He must have been transferred somewhere secret, where you don't get news anymore.

* March 9, 2015: "Caesar photos" are released for review, Nabil is swiftly identified as the one shown in the 2-2013 photo. 
** listed again by VDC upon verification, March 9
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/145394#.W3FdmPZFzuh

Martyred under torture in the regime`s air forces directorate prisons after being detained on 24-2-2012, Date of death unknown accurately (previously given as April 3, 2013 - see above - and second detention date is a bit off)
** https://twitter.com/Daraya_Network/status/575081308159762432
** https://twitter.com/ghazi_73/status/575252623911088129
** This list assembled shortly thereafter includes the match  http://www.shrc.org/en/?p=24669 

* May 3, 2015: News from the secret place: he's dead again, just now.
** "Nabil Sharbaji, a Syrian journalist and peaceful activist, he was killed in detention in Saydnaya military prison on May 3rd ,2015." https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2017/01/nabil-sharbaji-syria-not-mark-absent/#ixzz5O3EAH3Lh
** Mansour Omari: "After two years [past his own Feb. 2013 release], Nabil died. He died in the Saydnaya military prison after a jailer kicked him in the chest, sending his soul to heaven and body to some mass grave or, perhaps, an incinerator." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/opinion/what-i-smuggled-from-a-syrian-prison.html
First, his body  - as many say - passed under the lens of Caesar, sometime before Caesar fled in August, 2013. 
** "...he was killed in the Sednaya prison for political detainees on 3 May 2015, according to testimonies from detainees who were with him at that time."

https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2017/01/enab-baladi-five-years-amateur-professional/

Nabil Sharbaji, the seed of al-Arishah
** Kholoud Helmi, founder of Enab baladi newspaper: “The first one we lost was the CEO, Mohammad Quraitem. He took the decision to stay in my hometown after we left and he was killed by a missile that hit his home. Then we lost a reporter from Darayya one month later. Then within the period of two or three months we lost the managing editor, Ahmad Shihadeh. Then in 2015 one of our co-founders, Nabil Shurbaji, was killed under torture in prison after he was arrested in February 2012. He was the only journalist among us. The rest of us were amateurs.
“We only learned that he had been killed two years later. Other people are still in prison. We paid a very heavy price.” https://www.bigissuenorth.com/features/2018/05/womans-place-resistance/
** Did it take 2 years to learn in 2017, or did it take a bit longer to forget the prior ID as a guy who died in early 2013? They say the former, app. when this guy was released:

** "Omar al-Shaghiri, one of the people who witnessed Nabil’s death in detention, said, “The jailor used to come every morning and shout, “Bastards, who has someone who died?” That day, the cell officer in the cell next to mine said he had someone. The jailor asked him for the full name, mother’s name and date of birth. The officer responded, ‘Nabil Sharbaji’. Then he said his father’s name, mother’s name and his date of birth. I remember that day well. One of Nabil’s closest friends was in the same cell as me and he cried when he heard Nabil’s name. His mental state and health deteriorated after hearing of the death of one of his dearest friends.”

https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2016/12/documenting-darkness-stepping-inside-syrian-prisons/#ixzz5OI9AZuPI

It's said he died from a kick to the chest. Looking at the photo above, Nabil could have died from ... breathing problems in the chest. That could cause your ears to turn purple, lips a bit (cyanosis - low oxygen, from many causes, not just chemicals). That could perhaps explain the blood from his nose. Not sure it would cause the very faint yellow staining on his lower face. And definitely, a kick in the chest in 2015 can't be hard enough to kill you 2 years back in time. 

Compare to another onetime cellmate of Omari, super-positive and totally peaceful activist Ayham Ghazoul, who allegedly died of internal injuries, no external wounds (someone else, not Mansour, claims to have seen that, after transfer to branch 227 - unless he's also "M", but the story he gives is different...). Irritated skin on neck, mild cyanosis, red, irritated eyes, yellow crust in eyes, yellow staining across lower face. 

Both suggest there had been more of this yellow fluid, plus blood, etc. leaking from their airways but it was washed off pretty well prior to these photos ...as actual opposition activists, where they were meant to be recognized? The majority are captured SAA soldiers and "Shabiha", I suspect, and are starved down, massively neglected, often left covered in blood and mucous across their faces, sometime deep purple all over, with eye irritation so bad their eyes are swollen and oozing bloody fluids like rotting peaches. These guys got it easy. But not nearly as easy as some...


More on Mansour Al-Omari

"He was working at the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression in Damascus when they came for him..."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/these-cloths-tell-story-worst-humanitarian-crisis-this-generation-180967767/

"I had been the supervisor of the detainees section of the Violation Documentation Center, an independent organization that has monitored human rights violations in Syria since April 2011." 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/opinion/what-i-smuggled-from-a-syrian-prison.html

That's who found out: Nabil "was seen in Mazzah Military Airport - Air Force Intelligence on 21-09-2013, Adra central prison on 11-02-2013, Adra central prison on 09-08-2013," months after the guy several people are sure is him was already seen dead.

Sources give Nabil's age on arrest as 30 or 32. Omari has the guy writing out in blood, a year later, about his 29 years of life so far.

After his release in early 2013, Omari says he told Nabil's fiancée that he was alive, and assured her he would be for a long time. 

"Among the people I contacted was Nabil’s fiancée. Nabil had talked to me about her almost every day while we were imprisoned together. “She was the only girl who understood me,” he used to say. He dreamed of her almost every day, and thought of the family they would build together when he was finally freed."

The Facebook tribute page set up around the time of his alleged death in April, 2013 says he was married with 3 children already (shown, all young) https://www.facebook.com/475876922480181/photos/a.475945665806640.1073741826.475876922480181/475945669139973/?type=3
and this includes a message from someone claiming to be his wife, perhaps named Safaa: 

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=476218872445986&id=475876922480181

Mansour Al-Omari: Does his face lend credibility? You decide.

Update 2018 12-23: I later revised my Caesar photos timeline in more detail. 
https://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2018/10/caesar-photos-timeline-of-terror.html

I didn't include Nabil in this, but just now on review I consider his j# is a likely "H# insertion." j-9092 could be unidentified body #9,092 or, as numbered here with the count re-setting at 5,000 to 1 with a b, he'd he 4092/b. That's roughly in the middle of the time span covered by the folder he's in (section below, adding this possibility in green)

4092/b would fall about 400 bodies after the Feb. folder starts, and well before its end around 4521 and 4571/b dated the 27th and 28th. Presuming steady flow, his death date should be around Feb. 10-13. That's about 2 weeks (not 63 days, not a couple years) after his murky 3rd arrest in late January, following his even murkier second release from real jail shortly before that.... hmmm.

update, an hour later: oops. This is before the /b switch, as the image shows, so just 4092, not 9092, would be in range. The above is likely a coincidence, unless they made up his prisoner number by adding 500 to his hospital  # anyway, and it was 4092. Possible but that's all.