Remembering child victims of Syria's military crackdown

Human rights groups say more than 400 children have been killed in Syria's crackdown on anti-government unrest - some of them deliberately. The BBC's Fergal Keane speaks to some of those affected in neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan.

Tamer's mother remembers that on the day he left home he turned and asked her a simple question. It was the kind of question teenage boys, preoccupied with their appearance, are apt to ask. He had been combing his hair and wanted to know if it looked good. "I told him: 'You are so beautiful'," recalled Nawal al-Shari.

The next time Nawal saw 15-year-old Tamer, his body was grotesquely disfigured by what the family insists was torture. His father found him in a hospital mortuary 40 days after he left home in April last year to attend a demonstration in the southern town of Deraa against his family's wishes.

Tamer's family want to see justice for their 15-year-old son

Slowly piecing together the final days of their son's life, the Shari family learned that he had been taken to the notorious Air Force detention centre near Damascus. His X-rays showed signs of bullet holes and broken bones. Most of his upper front teeth had been knocked out. A fellow detainee has told the BBC he saw Tamer being beaten in custody.

His mother told the BBC that she hoped to see a day when there would be justice for her son. "It is impossible that there are humans that have such stone hearts to do this to their fellow man. Even animals cannot do this to people," she said.

'Accounts of torture'

In response to the case of Hamza al-Khatib, a 13-year-old detained around the same time as Tamer, the Syrian government said he had been shot at a demonstration - a claim disputed by human rights groups. State media said the boy's father had expressed his gratitude for the kindness shown to the family by President Bashar al-Assad. [after they threatened to kill his family and he is related to my cousin so I know this first hand and don't need youtube to verify]

In all of this it is impossible to verify the truth of every allegation. The Syrian conflict has become a bitter propaganda battle between the opposition and the state.

But the UN says it has gathered "numerous and substantiated" accounts of torture including children.

Mohammed and Munira were shot at while fleeing the country with other refugees

The UN also accuses the Syrian state of showing "little or no recognition of the rights of children in the actions taken to quell dissent".