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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063874/Mohammed-Mulla-Eissa-murder-Boy-15-refused-join-march-Syrias-President-Assad.html?ito=feeds-newsxml



'Shoot him again to make sure he dies': Boy, 15, gunned down in front of his classmates after refusing to join march in support of Syria's President Assad

By Hugo Gye

20th November 2011



Pressure on the Syrian regime has increased after a 15-year-old schoolboy was murdered by government thugs.

Mohammed Mulla Eissa's only crime was refusing to join a pro-regime march when ordered to do so by militiamen who had come to his school.

The boy was apparently shot in front of his classmates; beaten with truncheons; and then killed after an officer ordered: 'Shoot him again to make sure he dies.'

Mohammed's death brought the total number of children killed in the Syrian uprising to 282.

But this one has further galvanised the opposition to Bashar al-Assad's Baathist regime, due to the appallingly public nature of the killing, and video recordings of Mohammed with blood gushing from his chest.

His funeral attracted 20,000 mourners, and the street where he lived in the town of Deir al-Zour, in the east of the country, has been renamed after him.

Fulsome tributes to his memory have marked him out as an icon of the resistance to Assad. One said: 'He left for school; now he is a school unto himself,' while another dubbed him 'Martyr Mohammed'.

Mohammed apparently had a reputation as a rebel at the top school he attended. He was once suspended for challenging the pro-regime narrative contained in the school's history textbooks.

So it may have been no surprise that he led the resistance to compulsory marching even in the face of aggressive threats from the military.

It is unclear exactly how Mohammed died - some reports suggest that he was hunted down after school by the thugs he had previously resisted, rather than being shot in the school itself.

But however he met his grisly end, the sad story adds to the evidence that Assad's reaction to those who call for his resignation is becoming increasingly violent.

Nearly 4,000 people have died in the uprising, which has been ongoing since January.

Syria's brutal crackdown on protesters has led to international condemnation, most recently seeing it kicked out of the Arab League for failing to implement a proposed peace plan properly.

While some rebels have called for western intervention, there is little appetite for attacking a country which is in many ways more similar to Iraq than Libya.

The opposition to Assad, who has been in power since succeeding his father Hafez in 2000, is widespread, but does not control any territory.

With the regime refusing to back down, the stage may be set for more violent confrontation between government soldiers and protesters intent on payback for victims like Mohammed Mulla Eissa.