Syrian rebels kill coffee vendor for ‘blasphemy’

The parents of a 14-year-old boy executed by Islamist fighters in the largely rebel-controlled northern city of Aleppo after they accused him of blasphemy have spoken of the killing.

The parents of the teen killed by Syrian rebels. Screengrab: Getty/AFP/YouTube

Muhammad al-Qatta was working at his family’s coffee kiosk on Sunday when someone approached him looking for a free cup of coffee.

“If Muhammad, peace be upon him, were to come to this earth right now, I would still not lend a cup of coffee to anyone unless they pay for it,” the teenager said, according to witnesses.

Three men, with the robes, long hair and beards favoured by Islamist fighters battling the government of president Bashar al-Assad, overheard the conversation. They seized the young man and took him to their car.

His father, Abd-Alwahab al-Qatta, told media in Aleppo that when they returned an hour later, Muhammad bore the marks of a beating.

In a square, they covered his head with his shirt, a blindfold, as if he were “some big shot,” his mother said in the interview.

“They shot him dead in front of my eyes. This act is against religion and against Sharia,” the boy’s mother said. “I want to ask Muhammad Hassan [a prominent Egyptian cleric] and the Saudi king whether my boy
deserved death or not.”