(Zaman Al Wasl)- The opposition member and former businessman Maamoun al-Homsi revealed the story behind the pictures circulated by the pro-regime websites and pages on Tuesday evening. In the pictures, al-Homsi appears before a stand selling Arabic coffee and Sahleb (a warm drink). In the past few days, al-Homsi said on his personal Facebook page that he was suffering from very difficult situation as many of his countryman, so he decided as he said, to make some cakes and to sell them with along with Sahleb, tea and coffee on the streets of Vancouver.
Suddenly, as he said, a Syrian lady approached him and after several questions tried to take his photograph. She went away and then returned to take more photographs of him and his son. She was not content with just that but followed them to the building entrance to take more photographs of them. After a few hours, al-Homsi found the photographs plastered on several Facebook pages with rude and insulting words written slandering and cursing him. Among the comments, “this is the road of traitors and their end.”
Al-Homsi commented sharply about the issue, “you cowards and lowest of humans. Betrayal, brutality, religious hatred is your identity and your humiliating truth.” He added, “today your trumpets curse and slander me because I sell milk and coffee in the streets of Canada and all of this is ultimately the result of a monster without humanity and without honor.”
The images circulated on social media websites and pages ignited pro-regime cursing and opposition members compassion. The journalist Adnan Abdul Razak commented, “Mohammad Maamoun al-Homsi… the Syrian parliamentarian who said ‘no’ in a time of ‘yes’, your selling coffee in the streets of Canada tries to bring back purity to the revolution and revolutionaries, and confirms that there are those who are cannot be bought, who do not sell their principles or ethics… and if he sold coffee in the streets to live with dignity there is nothing shameful where others have served as states and embassies’ agents… or sold the blood and dreams of Syrians.”
The journalist Abdul Karim al-Afan, he commented on his page, “a salutation to Maamoun al-Homsi, the former member of the Syrian popular assembly, the seller of milk and purchaser of his dignity abroad, and a curse to the al-Assad Iranian regime which dispersed Syrians and drowned their country with disgusting sectarian bidding.”
The colleague, Ali Eid, in an article published for him in Zaman al-Wasl, directed these words, “listen Abu Yassin… I am like you a refugee, and after 16 years in journalism I worked taking care of newborn baby, I worked in painting workshops, in carpentry, and I managed to find my balance and regain work in my profession, but I was not embarrassed, I was convinced of the price I had to pay for my objection to living in the auspices of those assholes. I have many friends who have degrees, among them doctors, engineers and lawyers who worked in restaurants and frying falafel, cutting grass, picking fruit, I take pride in them, all of them are in pain over what is happening to their country before they were in pain about losing their business, house or money.”
In turn pro-regime pages and websites showed their disregard for the image circulated, one these newspapers connected to the military hospital wrote, “Maamoun al-Homsi the Syrian opposition member screams without warning, and he was the member of the popular assembly instigating the country’s people to attack each other.”
The newspaper added, “al-Homsi escaped in the dead of night and left humiliated with the aim of emigrating with dignity so he arrived to Canada… The Syrian opposition member tried to become a leader abroad and for his name to become important, but no one remembers him and he ended up at a stand on the streets of Canada selling Arabic coffee.”
The newspaper continued, “working is neither shameful nor embarrassing, but where was he when we were a nation.” The pro-regime supporter called Wesam Assad wrote below a picture he published for al-Homsi and his son before the coffee selling stand, “Maamoun al-Homsi from popular assembly member to opposition member appearing on satellites to instigate to coffee seller in the streets of Canada.”
Mohammad Maamoun al-Homs was born in Damascus in 1956. He represented the city of Damascus in the provincial council between the years of 186-1990. After that he became an independent member of the Syrian parliament representing Damascus city. Al-Homsi was arrested on 9 August 2001 when his parliamentary immunity was stripped from him to become the first parliamentarian striped of his civil rights in the history of the Syrian parliament.
On 20 March 2002, after over 7 months of his detention, the penal court in Damascus sentenced him to 5 years of prison, and directed several accusations among them trying to change the constitution through unlawful means, attacking authorities, instigating sectarian hatred, libel and slander.
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