Martyr Abdul Khaleq Khair Allah
Rami Khair Allah, a member of the Caesar Families Association, wrote on the anniversary of his father’s arrest words expressing his longing for him and his determination to hold his killers accountable:
“May 16, 2012, a date etched in my memory… Every time this day returns, May 16, I remember when I was 12 years old, how utterly helpless I felt when they told me they arrested your father at a checkpoint for the Syrian regime… I couldn’t do anything but cry and feel helpless, frustrated, and afraid for my father. Every time May 16 comes, I feel the same emotions. I am 24 today and still haven’t avenged my innocent father.
My dear father, you wounded my soul, I wish with all my heart that I were older so they could arrest me instead and leave you, and I would redeem you with my soul, my light. I don’t know how many May 16ths will pass by me, and I live this black day in which my support, a piece of my heart, and the light of my eyes were taken away. If you were present, Abu Rami, and you saw me and saw my brothers, how people would say, ‘What a good person who raised you.’ And you saw how we work and toil like you, and live with dignity as you taught us… I wish you could see my brother Shadi, whom I entrusted to you the last time I saw you, when he was one year old, today he is 13 years old and diligent in his studies.
How much I wish you were present to carry my children and kiss them, and they see you and know who their loving grandfather is. If you see my brother Fadi, how he became a 23-year-old man, and everyone thanks his morals. I have three daughters now, and every time I have a daughter, I remember you, and tears fall from my eyes… How much I wish you were present to choose my daughters’ names. I wish when I had to make a decision, you were by my side to tell me what’s right and what’s wrong. How much I wish to see you and kiss your hands and rest my head on your shoulder or on your legs and sleep in peace and reassurance as I used to sleep next to you when I was little, and I felt that the world belonged to me…
I wish my siblings and I could see you once, and you would be pleased with us, and happy, and we see your smile that never leaves our imagination… But unfortunately, it’s just wishful thinking.
After everything difficult I lived through in my life, from sadness, loss, displacement, and alienation, I will not abandon your right. I will demand accountability for your killers until the last moment of my life.
This is what I wrote with tears in my eyes on the anniversary of my father’s arrest…
May God have mercy on you, O the beloved of my heart, and accept you among the martyrs and the righteous.”
