The determined gaze of Safaa Al-Saray, her turquoise scarf under her cropped beard, is a leitmotiv in Baghdad Tahrir Square. On the frescoes of artists lining the walls of the tunnel. On the banners hanging on the building of the "Turkish restaurant" which dominates the square. On the t-shirts demonstrators. Poet, painter and musician, political activist and influential blogger, at 26, Safaa Al-Saray is the most emblematic "martyr" of the protest against the power in Iraq, which has already killed more than 340 people since 1 October, for most young people in their twenties, like him. His sacrifice as the message of resistance and hope he leaves inspires those who, by the thousands, have taken up the torch.
In the tent erected in her memory at Tahrir Square, her friend Nour, 26, recounts, with her throat tied: "Safaa is a hero. He had asked us to be here to challenge the government. He told me … he would die here because he was so happy. " Despite the violence of the repression, he filmed, documented their "Revolution." Despite the government shutting down the Internet, he managed to send images of these young men out of Iraq, armed with flags and sometimes Molotov cocktails, defying the security forces.
"It is to the Iraqi people that we must send our condolences for his death," Nour adds. Safaa Al-Saray was killed on October 28 on the Al-Joumhouria bridge, which connects Tahrir Square to the "green zone", the ultra-safe district of the Iraqi capital where the country's institutions are located. A tear gas grenade pierced the back of the skull; one of those "skull-breaker" grenades used to kill, according to Amnesty International. "We put his body in beer and we took him back to Tahrir Square so that everyone could pay him a last homage. We danced for him. He was taken to every place he went to and took pictures. " his friend continues.
These are the tuk-tuk drivers, herited as Tahrir Square, for the risks they take when they transport the wounded, who formed this funeral procession. In this contest involving young people from all walks of life around the same frustration against the corruption of elites, unemployment and the decay of public services, Safaa Al-Saray was a smuggler between two worlds, between young people from disadvantaged neighborhoods. social distress and civil society activists, awakened politically. Simple and generous man, born in the popular district of Al-Chaab and last of a sibling of eleven children, he took care of all, as a big brother.
