Two Bullets Had Hit Him in The Back

Narrator: Hussain Farahmand (brother)

Victim: Hassan Kamali

Date of the incident: 23 July 2016

Location of the incident: Dehmazang, Kabul City

I am Hussain Farahmand, the brother of martyr Hassan Kamali, who was an engineer. My brother was born on 28th February 1993 in Temran. He attended elementary school at Shalizar School and completed middle and high school at Temran Boys High School. When he was in 11th grade, alongside being a student, he started teaching other students. There was a shortage of teachers in that area at the time. So even as a child, he served as a teacher. In addition to going to school and teaching others, Hassan worked in the local pharmacy in the afternoons to help our father by earning money. Hassan was a very hardworking, social, good-tempered, and humorous boy. He was not obsessed with money; his only goal was to improve his life. In 2012, he passed the university entrance exam and was accepted into the engineering department of the Mining Industry Polytechnic University. My brother scored very high on the entrance exam, with a score of 322 points.

During his school years, he received many commendations from educational centres and even from the university. He came second and third in his class as a first and second-year student. In his third year of university, he worked so hard that he was the top student in his class. He received his letter of commendation in 2016 and phoned to tell me he was top of his class. I was very happy and congratulated him.

When the incident happened on July 23rd, I was in Herat and did not know the details. On the same day, I was in the park to study for my final exam. In the afternoon, I returned to my room to rest and sleep. I had slept for half an hour when my friends reported on Facebook that a suicide attack had happened among demonstrators in Dehmazang, Kabul. One of my roommates knew about it, but I did not.

One of our relatives, who worked at a money exchange office in Kabul, called me and asked, “Do you know where Hassan is?” I immediately called both of his numbers. The phone rang for about 5 minutes but no one picked up. I called my cousin and asked about him. He said that he was in his room until 11:30, and had taken an exam, and he was probably in Kote-Sangi, not at the demonstration. I called the other friends of his I knew. They also said that Hasan had not participated in the rally.

Once he had visited Kote-Sangi, one of his classmates had told him, “You and I got cards yesterday; we must participate in the demonstration."