The mother of the martyr soldier keeps his photos all around the house, but she hides a small one where he appears in his military costume holding the sword on the graduation day from the Military Academy in a place near her heart.

This mother has not taken off black clothes since the day her son fell in June 2013. She recalls very well when she hooted and cried of joy on the day of his graduation. She has always dreamed of him becoming "an almighty officer", but when the so-called Abra incident took place, everything has faded away.

When the brokenhearted woman heard the news of al-Assir arrest, neither did she smile nor put on colorful clothes. She simply held the photo of her son and started caressing his face, as if he returned to life in flesh and blood.

She has always prayed; sarcastically, the killer of her son also prays, he is a sheikh and has his own followers who are defending him until this very moment, they claim his innocence and call for "fair justice".

What kind of prayer ends with killing 19 Lebanese army soldiers? Why were they killed? What kind of sheikhs kill, insult, hold a weapon, flee from justice, disguise and forge a passport?

On Saturday night, the mother went as usual early to bed blaming herself for her son's absence. She rarely goes out or welcomes visitors for she prefers to spend time with her loved-one's pictures; she kisses them, hugs them and cries...

On this night, she had a dream; being left alone in a small room with Ahmad al-Assir. She saw herself refraining from hitting him or insulting him or even strangling him as she had always wished to do.

Instead, she shrewdly gave him the evil eye until he looked down.

She took again her son's picture, kissed it and played with his hair to let him sleep... this time in peace.

Article originally written in Arabic by Dany Haddad