Cyclops, 1947.
On Tuesday, watching the disturbing BBC TV Panorama documentary about people with learning difficulties being badly mistreated by the staff at Winterbourne View residential hospital in Bristol, was truly horrible.
The sight of the mindless bullying and violence that was inflicted on the vulnerable people at this hospital was dreadful, for once I hoped all of the staff would be arrested and imprisoned.
Not just the staff carrying out the attacks, but also the other staff, who saw it and did nothing, as well as management and the regulators.
The next day four staff members who carried out the attacks were arrested; they were immediately released on bail and are sure to get prison sentences.
No news about the rest of the staff or management or the regulators, the hospital hadn't any activities for the vulnerable people, nothing to stimulate them; there was no structure, no daily routine.
Bored staff were picking on the vulnerable people in their care, there were 24 patients and 50 staff; it cost 3,400 pounds per week to keep someone there.
What worried me even more was reading about the torture and murder of a child of 13 by the Syrian army, Hamza Ali al-Khateeb was tortured to death by Syrian security forces.
'' He is one, of the youngest known victims of Syria's ruthless crackdown on peaceful protesters who have tried to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.’’
In the Independent they wrote:
‘’ Hamza was among a group of people detained at the end of April when they participated in a demonstration in the town of Jiza. His family heard nothing about his whereabouts until last week, when officials reportedly arrived at their home and told them they could have Hamza's body back if they agreed not to publicise his death.
They consented, but were so horrified by the condition of the child's body when it was returned to them that they made contact with a human rights activist, who videoed the body and uploaded the footage on to YouTube.
The film, which has now been seen by thousands of people, shows Hamza's bloated and mutilated body in unflinching detail.
As the camera pans over his corpse it reveals gunshot wounds, burns and a number of bruises inflicted by the young boy's torturers – presumably belonging to a branch of Syria's feared intelligence services. His penis has been severed.’’
I hope the Syrian people will be freed of the tyrant Bashir al-Assad and his corrupted government and brutal armed forces very soon.
The two situations, Syria and the hospital are miles apart, but what worries me is how easily things can be escalated.
In both situations brutal bullies terrorise helpless vulnerable people, the patients too could have also been mutilated and killed.
Both need liberation from brutal bullies.
