Caesar Photos Victim Profile: Ahmed and Ayman Abo Al-Laban

Caesar Photos Victim Profile: Ahmed and Ayman Abo Al-Laban
And Abu Al-Laban Family Deaths and Detainees
August 21, 2018
rough, perhaps disorganized

intro f/c...

VDC, All Laban martyrs from Daraya, and it's Abo/Abu al-Laban we're looking for. The most recent entries, with none since, are 2 civilians Martyred under torture in the regime`s prisons, Date of death unknown accurately, listed by VDC on 3-14, 2015, usually meaning their Caesar photos match and ID date. They had died long before, sometime before August, 2013. 

* Ahmad Abo al-Laban
* Ayman Abo al-Laban
Ayman has no photos included. Ahmad Abo al-Laban has photos, one being Caesar photo, search number cropped, compared to a tight-cropped face shot. The two are compiled below. It looks like a plausible fit. 

https://twitter.com/Ibrahim84Sy/status/576030662639095808

3-12-15 Ahmed identified as that detainee, two days before VDC, using same cropped images above - this is their source, or another reflection of it. The apparent flies are taken as a skin infection that killed many.

Tried harder than I should have and found no match in my mostly-complete archive of 6,700+ photos. Perhaps I missed it here, it's one the few I never collected, or perhaps it was removed from the set upon ID.

Looked again and found it: 227-1525-3-2013 (app. photo 3 of however many, a slightly different view - most "sores" were shooed away, The remaining few are blurred out.) He's been held for a while, slightly starved/unhealthy looking, but not horrible. hard to say how long that means, and conditions might vary. This is a rare case where nothing suggests a chemical death over one caused by suffocation, illness, or unseen wounds. He could also be gassed, it's just not evident.

http://safmcd.com/martyr/view.php?id=5668

6-27-2013 VDC shows 4 Abo Labans arrested, him and 3 brothers with middle name Suleiman, including an Ayman, arrested down in Jdaidet Artouz. His relation to them is unclear (no middle name given). That's the same guy; his entry is updated to reflect 2015 body ID to that too-early photo (listed as "release date," corrected to death date, meaning ID date - 14 March.) Also, the different and blurry photo used there is a decent likeness of this same guy.  Arrested along with three relatives on June 27, 2013. But then... the photo date above is 3-2013, saying he was dead 3 months before this late-June arrest. 

Or being more careful and reviewing my timeline: this is a very ambiguous spot. 3-2013 is the last folder date before a June 4 folder was started, so it should cover that whole broad span, which would still be too early to fit this story. Below is the span with about 95% of the bodies - about 6,700 total - in just 9 or 10 months. Unidentified body or "hospital #" where I can match it to a photo folder date. Many cases, all sequential.

But it's closer than you'd think - checking the surrounding entries, he happens to be the last 227 prisoner in the March folder (see below - h's highlighted). Note every prisoner gets killed, neatly in sequence. 1526 and after are dated 4-6-2013, and suddenly look like a different day. So Ahmed's photo was probably taken or collected on June 3 or whatever last day before that?  I need to review this. There remains just enough ambiguity about the folder date's relevance that we can't call a clear contradiction here (or maybe in prior cases). Certainly that enormous 4-6 folder doesn't show 2,000+ bodies documented before the next folder's start three days later. This folder represents a span of prior images collected on this date. Do they all? Does it vary? I forget what all I had found on that...

(side-note: some may notice here the top row's yellow things on the face; and the middle face, bottom row has the same. This is mysterious, but maybe some fizzed-up dried mucous. This stuff is more often seen in smaller amounts in the corners of people's eyes. Here it happens extra bad to 227 prisoners who were given forehead tape (the numbers are there but blurred - presumably same as given).)


Anyway … So was Ahmed freshly dead, it seems a few weeks before this alleged late June arrest? Not sure. Or was it even earlier? Consider Rihab Allawi, the only female among the nearly 7,000 people depicted in the "Caesar photos." A known opposition activist, she's also one of the few who might not even be dead, judging by the photos. Odd case.

http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2015/12/rihab-allawi-caesarphoto-victim-profile.html

There are conflicting stories of her death under unclear torture in mid-February or, mostly, in March/April, 2013, after an arrest in late January. HRW thought maybe she died on June 4, because her photo is in that folder. I feel clearer now this covers some span prior. Unclear. But let's say it's March-April, as most suggest.

To be late in the preceding folder, Ahmed should have died somewhat before her. In fact, Rihab is body #2487/b or #7,487. See above, the yellow span of dots; she's the one near the right side, just before 2500/b. Or here, see below. 

That's later in the sequence, fairly close to falling in the June 7 folder. Ahmed  came nearly 2,000 unidentified bodies earlier than her, and probably about 2 months earlier. The end of the 3-2013 folder corresponds to hospital numbers in the 650/b range, that far past 5,000, (so app. 5,650 unidentified bodies documented there, at that time, whatever time that was). Whatever story you believe for Rihab, none lets Ahmed fit well at all with that detention date in late June. He should have been killed maybe back in January or February (the average rate here in nearly 1,000/month, so nearly 2,000 is just about 2 months, depending how fast these bodies were coming in, how frequently they were found and in what sized clusters).

I have a list of the entries behind the notches on this timeline. Checking it for context, the closest 227 prisoner I found a hospital number for is 227-1475, also in 3-2013 folder. 50 227 bodies before Ahmed, that one has Hospital/body# 252/b. Apparently I didn't mark that on the above timeline. Huh.
(numbers visible in the SAFMCD photo here - 252 looks more like COC). That's many bodies earlier, but only 50 of those are credited to branch 227. Far more were sent as from branch 215, and there were others for other branches and maybe some just plain unidentified bodies no one had a fake prisoner story for.

Back the June 17 arrest...

The other three said to be arrested in Jdeidat Artouz in late June, maybe were taken by someone on that date. But Ahmed seems tacked on. Presuming this is a valid ID. And visually it is pretty good. Ahmad has his detainee entry updated to reflect 2015 body ID to that too-early photo (listed as "release date," corrected to death date, meaning ID date). Ayman and his brothers have "release date 2014-04-09" but all say "Notes: His financial situation is bad." No further notes. Was ransom paid?

Release date can also mean death date, or body ID date. Here it should be neither; Ayman is said to be later IDd from Cphotos, only in March 2015, unless this refers to two different guys (possible, but there's an implied relation to Ahmed for both...) So he should be dead, and before August, 2013 (if it was a genuine match, not possible to double check). Possible early match-up date? Some photos were released in early 2014, and a match in April is possible, followed by a second ID by someone else in 2015. If he was arrested in June, and included among the later photos before August, any brothers arrested with him surely would as well. But this remains unclear. Would all 3 be identified early in 2014? (all 3 have that date attached). Possibly, if they were in one of the group shots published then. Or had pictures shown privately. Too unclear. 

Searching around, there's reference to a Mjuahid named Ayman Abo Al-Laban who was killed by Jabhat al-Nusra fighters in July 2014 or so. Perhaps considered "Dr." by some, and one with political views opposed to those of Riad assad of the "FSA". This is a different guy apparently, from Daraa. Ignore that, anyone researching. 

There's also this, possibly another Ahmed: "The Martyrdom of Ahmed Abu al-Laban on 22-11-2012 when he defended the cities." 

https://twitter.com/SyrianRevo/status/272414085172326400

The 2 different men are listed here by "How Many More?" 

 4 Jun 2015 https://twitter.com/HowManySyrians/status/606603850363990017

Ahmad Abo Al-Laban, a man from Damascus Suburbs, detained & then tortured to death on 3/14/2015... How many more?

 3 Apr 2015 https://twitter.com/HowManySyrians/status/584198210656182272

Ahmad Abo Al-Laban, a man from Damascus, shot to death on 11/18/2012... How many more?

Defender could be FSA, Nov. 18, or 22 (sources disagree) would be the earliest of FIVE Abu al-Laban fighters killed in about a month... (see below). But VDC didn't list any such guy.

But I only looked in Daraya. Then I expanded the search to find: http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/43781#.W3qDh_ZFzIU

Ahmad Abo al-Laban, non-civilian, from Palestine refugee camp (Yarmouk?), Damascus, killed Nov. 18, 2012. He was not quite FSA, more a "Defected Conscript" or rather "He was martyred by regime forces' gunfire while he was trying to defect." I bet he didn't try very hard, and that was the problem. Didn't do much to defend Daraya or Damascus, or fall to terrorists there, as he was stationed in "Martyrdom location: Hasakeh."

So that's probably a coincidence on that end, probably not part of any local targeting, and probably not the guy seen in the photos, who doesn't look military... but conceivably, this is the guy - he was conscripted, was captured there, later transferred somehow to the Damascus area to be included in the bodies photographed at Hospital 601. Or possibly killed elsewhere rebel-held, the photo just worked in. That remains possible in the case of most bodies not clearly seen at the locale. (some number coordination would be required, but this is possible Otherwise, I presume it's all in the Damascus area.)

Some Signs of Targeting

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 second one, a child soldier of 17, was killed in or along with (?) the November 30, 2012 possible chemical incident.  He's the only one who doesn't look bizarre, almost like a chemical or suffocation victim. He has a visible wound unlike the others, but it doesn't seem fatal down there at his hip. More likely related to capture, after which... ??
http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2018/08/daraya-chemical-incident-november-30.html