The Pharmacist Explained?

January 9, 2015

from http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Al-Houla_Before_and_After_the_Massacre#Medical_Personnel_Killed

Both pro-government and anti-government sources agree a pharmacist was murdered somewhere in al-Houla sometime around the massacre of May 25. An older woman told ANNA News after that event "police positions were attacked. All the soldiers were killed, then they attacked our villages, torched a hospital in Al-Houla. Bandits killed our pharmacist next to the pharmacy for the fact that he has treated a wounded soldier." She makes it sound a bit like that was part of the 25th's violence, but it is set aside, after mentioning the hospital, and amidst talk of numerous attacks: recently "the number of terrorist attacks increased." So it's quite possible she just refers to a recent event.

So, a week earlier, opposition activists posted this video: Homs, houla 17 5 2012 martyr pharmacist Khaled almsfa who aghtalth the hand of treachery (translated). The opposition VDC lists a Khalid Mustafa killed this day in Hula by "shooting." Videos cited: 1 (same) 2 (private, was probably the same) But they say Mustafa is not his real name: the video description adds "martyr pharmacist Khalid al-Barrak البراك known as the ((Khalid Mustafa) which اغتالته Assad's gangs, just because he reach the wounded." Same premise the woman mentioned, but not the same killers. (same video given as "Pharmacist, martyr Khaled Abarrak" per LCC/Uruknet daily report)

It shows a younger or at least fit man, deceased, in rebel hands. The quality is poor and dark, but we can see that his neck has a band of extreme red all around it. It's not cut, just burned raw maybe, as if by friction. That's not shooting; some kind of hanging is implied.

Another posting of the same video suggests identity problems: Houle, Yet another unidentified corpse found on the road murdered by Assad's.17-5-2012 video gone, but another of the same name was posted Aug. 10, but with 17 5 in the title. This is the same 0:39 video, one posting available in here with English subtitles. These say he's unidentified, despite the title in some postings.

Now consider May 2012-05-18, Syrian Crisis Updated by the (not pro-rebel) Syrian Center for Documentation, via Voltairnet archive. The following day, they report as recent news "Armed rebels kill Mustafa Al-Hijjo and hang him on a tree in front of his house in Al-Hwleh area of Homs countryside."

If his house and his pharmacy are the same, this is how the woman described it. She just said killed, not hanged, but the rebel video shows a hanged pharmacist. The name Hijjo seems to be the one sometimes rendered Hajjow = حجو. The VDC shows no one of that name dying at this time; if they listed him at all, it's as Khalid Mustafa. So it seems likely this is all the same man, named Mustafa al-Hajjo, ironically re-named at death Khaled (immortal) Mustafa. Then maybe to clarify Mustafa is not part of his real name, they give his actual real name as Khalid al-Barrak - immortal and blessed.