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50s to 90s Information Kuwait

The story of the living martyr

Two weeks back I briefly posted the photo above and spoke about a Kuwaiti resistance fighter who had survived an Iraqi execution during the 1990 invasion and was hidden in that home. Well I got to meet the guy today and I heard the full story which I thought was extremely interesting to share. He wants to remain anonymous so I will be calling him Hamad in the story.

During the 1990 invasion Hamad and his friends became part of the Kuwaiti resistance. Once night one of the friends went missing while transporting some ammunition. No one knew what happened to him but 12 days later Iraqi soldiers came looking for Hamad and his friends. Their friend turned out had been captured and tortured. The soldiers captured Hamad and his friends and took them to a detention center in Jahra. For the first three days they were left blind folded sitting on the floor of a corridor with their hands tied behind their backs. Soldiers walking by would kick them and they were left without food. They were then moved to cells and they were tortured for two weeks straight.

After two weeks they were told that orders were issued to set them free and they would all be going home. Hamad and his friends along with a few other prisoners were shoved into a small van blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs. One of the prisoners blindfold was loose so he could see where they were going and kept updating the rest of the guys sitting in the back of the van. Finally they arrived to Dasman palace and the doors of the van were opened. The Iraqis told them they would be splitting them into groups and dropping them off based on location. First location was the city and Hamad and his two other friends told the soldier they lived there. So three of them still blind folded and chained where put into a rear seat of a car and driven to the city. On the way the Iraqi soldier driving was asking them questions like what was the first thing they would do when freed and how they were feeling now that they were being freed etc..

Finally they get to the address of one of the guys and they all get taken out of the car. The Iraqi soldiers then force them down to their knees. Hamad hears one of the soldiers loading a weapon so he realized what was about to happen. He starts praying loudly when the soldier fires a bullet into the head of his friend. Hamad realizing he was about to die next decides he wants to die quickly and so lowers his chin so that the bullet goes through the back of his head. As he does that the soldier fires the gun and the bullet hits Hamad’s head and he falls down face first onto the floor. The third bullet gets fired and his friend goes down. Hamad heard that shot and realized he was still alive. The bullet had grazed him. Then to make sure all three were dead the Iraqi soldier fired a second bullet into Hamad’s friend on his left. The soldier then fired a second bullet into Hamad’s head but the bullet again miraculously grazed him again. Finally the soldier fired a bullet into the second friend and then unchained the three of them and left them dead.

At first Hamad thought they must have used fake blood and bullets just to scare them. He whispered to his two friends to stay down and not to move until they were sure the Iraqis had left. A few moments later he got up and was still out of it. He hadn’t really absorbed what had happened. He put his hands in the blood and realized it was warm. He smelled it and then felt his head and realized it was all real. He had survived an execution.

Hamad’s two friends passed away that day but Hamad managed to find help from a Kuwaiti family in one of the houses nearby who stitched him up and then hid him in an abandoned house who’s door is pictured on top of this post. It’s a very chilling story but one I thought had to be shared.

If you haven’t already done so please make sure you check out the evidence.org.kw where you can find photos of the destruction of Kuwait by Iraqi forces during the 1990 invasion. The photo above is from there and taken by Dr Adel Al-Yousifi.

37 replies on “The story of the living martyr”

OMG I didn’t think they were going to execute them! I thought since he was alive they just would let them go! Not until I read that Hamad was shot in the head did I panic. Now I can’t stop crying!

This story is actually well known among those who stayed here during the invasion, I heard it shortly after the liberation, there is a similar story happend in Bait Algurain which a soldier couldn’t see one of the resistance hiding you can look it up for more details. May all our martyrs rest in peace.

Haven’t heard this story but heard a lot of similar ones. My relatives used to have a lot of pictures and videos from the invasion, some of which included executions in front of neighbors’ homes.

Ahmad qabazard was executed in our neighborhood back when we used to live in Jabriya.

they did the same thing with him, captured him first then took him to his house where they murdered him in fornt of his mother

I was 3 years old back then but my parents told me the whole story and they have witnessed the whole thing

allah yr7amhom

Mark, I have no reason to disbelieve this account, however, I find it hard to understand how the soldier managed to execute both his friends and not hit him in the head twice.

Perhaps I am just a cynical old fart.

I hope he has gone on to make the most of his 2nd chance and also honour the memories of his friends.

I hope he is making the most of the second chance..

My Mom & Dad were in Kuwait during that time.
They keep telling me stories of those days every now & then..

How they survived, how the food was scarce.. how the animals in Kuwait Zoo were ser free.

one of My dads friend actually has a camel that was set free from the Zoo..

a lot of crazy stories.

My Parents were actually shot at. My mom pregnant with my lil sis back then. a bullet hit the interior of the car a part of it hit my moms nose.
so now, my moms nose is a lil bent from top.. in between the eyebrow area.

she refused to get a surgery done & the metal remained in her nose for a long time untill a couple of years ago when the piece of metal finally found the way our of her nostril.

She told me that the Journalists had taken her picture with the swolen face. but my parents requested them not to use the picture in Kuwait, India & Sri Lanka as we have friends and families in these countries.

the last time Mark posted about the 1991 war, i tried to look for the pic with various google searched… never found the pic.

Anyways, crazy days those.. May God Bless EveryOne!!!

Forgive me… No insult or offence meant towards Hamad or his family. But seriously shot twice in the head and he walked away?? Even if it were a small caliber lets say a 22; No exit wound I agree but definitely there would have still been some penetration to the head if fired from close range as one would expect when the intention is an execution. A shot from a 22 to the head would definitely have caused some brain damage so much so as to even cause loss of sight, cohesion and motor skills. Yet he walked away on his own steam?? Also realistically speaking it is very unlikely that the soldier would be carrying a pistol that fires 22’s and very likely he would have been carrying on him nothing less than 9mm pistol side arm and a standard issue AK 47 rifle. Both these weapons are deadly at their given working ranges and even more devastating at close range. To miss once from a given distance is possible. But from close range highly unlikely if not rare especially considering that he is aiming point blank at a non-moving still target likely in a kneeling or a face down execution style position. A human head after all is not small object when compared to a gun barrel. Any point of the head is just as good. And from those two weapons highly effective. To miss once would mean incompetence but twice would mean that the soldier would not only have to be incompetent but blind as well. That of course is not the case considering that he was a professional soldier /killer and he did shoot Hamad’s friend twice in the head before firing on Hamad.

I am sorry Mr.Hamad ,forgive me. I know it sounds likes I am accusing you of something wrong and I am sorry. I am realist and some things just can’t happen. But if I am wrong then let me tell you; That Sir you are most loved by God above and are a walking miracle. In this case I stand corrected as miracles are unexplainable. You are blessed and have been given a second chance at life. You definitely deserve to have your story in the Guinness book of world records and be recognized both for what you did and sacrificed for this country as well as living through what can only be described as miraculous yet horrific at the same time.

No argument there Mark you did say he was grazed… and no denying the websites provided show how victims luckily survived bullet wounds that grazed their skulls. I started from the top and read the stories of the first 4 or 5 before stopping. The guy in Richmond was in a moving car when the shots were fired highly plausible that a stray bullet may have hit him and very lucky that the bullet grazed him, The sleeping guy in the hotel again a victim who was not specifically targeted for a head shot lucky for him that a wall acted as an obstacle and deflected the bullet enough to just graze his head. The shooting in Thailand? The reporter was not the target; the renegade general was. And as expected he was taken out by a professional using a weapon specifically designed for that task. The reporter was lucky he didn’t move when the shot was fired otherwise it would have been a different headline. The 16 year old teens? Same thing as far as I am concerned they were goofing around when the gun went off neither teen was specifically targeting the other’s head for a head shot. The guy in Nashville? Again shot by a bunch of guys who most likely had no idea how to handle a fire arm and just fired blind from a distance hoping to make the shot count.

As per the story told to you by Hamad he was shot by a professional soldier trained in and experienced in the use of firearms. A professional torturer and killer from point blank range at targets that were stationary and bound. By an executioner who knew his job as per his training very likely holding a gun to the center or may be the top of the head pointing down. His victims were neither moving nor were there any walls or obstacles between him and his victims. Nor were any gale force winds or breeze blowing in the short gap between the victims heads and the barrel of the gun to affect the trajectory of the bullet. Yet the man was grazed not once but twice from close range.

Call me a cynical bastard if you must but I guess for Hamad’s sake we all have to believe and be grateful to Almighty God that the executioner was incompetent, blind and a bad shot when he fired shots 2 & 5. Yet be heart broken and sad that he was a professional and dead on perfect with shots 1,3,4 & 6 when he made martyrs of Hamad’s friends.

Well it’s your prerogative of course to believe the story or not. No one is saying what happened wasn’t extraordinary or miraculous but the truth is it happened and unexplained things like this do happen. You could also question the story mentioned by Marcopolo above on the two resistant fighters who were hiding in the attic when an Iraqi soldier looked inside and didn’t see them. Miracles do happen.

“As per the story told to you by Hamad he was shot by a professional soldier trained in and experienced in the use of firearms.”

Actually, a lot of the Iraqi soldiers had little to no training.

What a great story. May all martyrs who died defending Kuwait be in heaven inshallah. You can see the difference between the pre-invasion and post-invasion generations.

No offense little or no training , shooting an ak 47 and missing the target which is point blank range hard to belive. I think mark you added a bit of spices ot the story 😉

@Dandoon85 totally agree that most of the guys in the Iraqi Uniforms were not professional trained soldiers but how much training do you require to point a weapon an pull a trigger??

And these guys were the same sadists who used to torture innocent people. So they were not at all squemish at the sight of blood or death in the first place.To state lack of training is not enough, Matter of fact lack of training would mean that the soldier would not trust himself to do a good professional job and fire the kill shot from a distance of a foot from the head while he stood over his helpless kneeling victim just as one would expect a professional to do rather he would make sure that the barrel was placed directly on his victims head and then fire the shot. The mere fact that he fired twice goes to show he had to be sure his victim was dead as would expect from some one who leaves nothing to chance

@ Nasir s

One cant accuse Mark of fabricating a story or adding a little spice to to make the story interesting. He is merely repeating what was told to him. He is a professional at what he does and we have seen time and again in the past that he never takes the low road where his reputation and integrity are concerned. He speaks his mind as he sees fit even though it may land him in trouble. Do I need to remind you about a certain restaurant story to back this point??

Hey Mark just one more thing .. went over Hamad’s story paticularly the part below

Hamad realizing he was about to die next decides he wants to die quickly and so lowers his chin so that the bullet goes through the back of his head. As he does that the soldier fires the gun and the bullet hits Hamad’s head and he falls down face first onto the floor

I was just wondering if the the soldier fired from the rear how would lowering his chin allow the bullet to Exit the BACK of head??. And had he been shot from the front would’nt the impact have caused an allready weak and tortured man to crumble back wards or at least to the side rather than face first?? Also had he put his chin down would not have that made it easier for the soldier by presenting him with a larger area to fire on to be shot from the top of the skull pointing down rather than the forehead? Yet grazed twice!! This is just my little seed of doubt 🙂

Ok so Hamad lowers chin so as to be looking at the floor.Soldier stands and fires at Hamad’s skull from behind or back whichever you prefer and hopefully the bullet “goes through the back of his head”
Got it thanks for clearing that up. 🙂

Sorry my friend but put yourself in my shoes..or better yet the Iraqi soldier’s.. how tall are you?? Between say average 5’5″ and 6+ feet?? Very likely that the soldier would have been the average same height. Imagine like the soldier you would be satnding less than 1 feet behind a kneeling person whose chin is lowered and looking at the floor; your hand is outstretched with a pistol in your fist aimed dead center mass at the person’s skull where do you think the bullet will enter and exit had you pulled the trigger?

Same scenario only this time you are standing in front of the kneeling figure,his chin is lowered and is looking at the floor so his fore head is also pointing down so that doesnt give you to the oppurtunity to fire at it with you standing up unless you also get down to his level or make him look at you. So where do you aim at if not again center mass at the skull? And if you were to fire where do think the bullet would have entered and exited? Last time I checked bullets travel in a straight line and a fair idea on what the answer would be.

Also again both scenarios I have described involvles a pistol just imagine what if instead it was an AK 47? The length of the barrel would have been more than sufficent to aim and take a sure shot at the skull. Considering 3things; the velocity of a bullet fired from an AK47 or a 9MM pistol,the point at which the barrel from either weapon was aimed at and the distance to travel from gun barrel to the victims head it makes it hard to believe a bullet from either weapon would have just skipped across the skull and grazed its victim. Let alone twice

Thanks Mark for sharing such a great and breathtaking story. May God bless all the souls died during the invasion of Iraq and bless all the good people who worked hard to get our Kuwait back after the mercy of Allah

Security advisor get a life already!!! are you Iraqi or a supporter of saddam that your mind can’t wrap around this well known and credible source-approved story!

Hi Kiakoo is it?? Answer to question 1 is no I am not an Iraqi. I am a natrualized US citizen. Originally born in Kuwait. Supporter of Sadaam. Thats rich didnt have anything else or original to say huh?? How old are you?? Were you even born during the invasion?? I was 16 when the tanks rolled into Kuwait. My dad and mom;a doctor and a nurse by profession were on the night shift and stopped at an Iraqi check point near the Seif palace when they were coming home. They had to leave their cars and walk back home to our appartment in Darwazza.I had close Kuwaiti friends who I went to school with who lost their lives,their fathers,mothers, brothers and sisters. When things became more dangerous my folks imsisted me and my brother leave while they stayed behind. You see they had loyalty to this country and more importantly to their patients who were left behind with no one to care for them. But at the same time they could not risk the lives of their kids so they decided to send us to the states to be our grandparents. We left Kuwait with an uncle on the last convoy out of Kuwait in November 1990 and made it to the States to to complete our studies. When the second gulf war came around I joined up with one intention in mind to kick some Iraqi ass and I enjoyed it.Served my new country with honour and became a citizen thanks to the US Military. My field is security I know guns and ordanance so I know what I am talking about And what you call credible I call hear say. I dont doubt what Mark wrote. He wrote exactly what was told him as it was told to him. On the other hand if the same was told to me I would probably run a background check on him , his family, his medical records and check the entire story. You may find it hard to believe but the Kuwaiti resistance at the time though out numbered were well organized and did maintain records that were later fed into official files that are till this day kept in secure files in a secure location. Many resistance fighters who were field captains at the time are today big shots in Kuwait intelligence and in the Ministries of Interior and Defence. You ask the right questions to the right people in the right circles and any information can be checked,corrabarated or denied.I have seen pictures of executions both the proffesional kind as well the one where Iraqi soldiers would bring their victims in ambulances gather a crowd around and force the people to watch when they opened up with their AK’s making mince meat of the bodies and then throw the bodies back into the ambulance and drive away to be buried in some unknown grave or be dumped in some local morgue.You dare to call me a supporter!! You dont know me,what I have lived through or seen what I have seen. If I was Kuwaiti would you have dared asked the same to my face?? I dont think so!! My statements in reference to this story earlier were asked out of logical reasoning and experience not because as you so callously said cause I am an Iraqi and a supporter of that hatefull regieme. Kiakoo grow up and get your head out of your rear end..

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