[4] Documents released from Sednaya Prison after the fall of the Assad regime in 2024 confirmed that Omar had died in police custody.

[5][4] Al Jazeera reported that he was not interested in politics, according to an unnamed cousin, but on 29 April 2011, he joined his family in a rally to break the siege of the city of Daraa.

One source said that Hamza had been among 51 protesters detained by the Air Force Intelligence, which detainees allegedly described as having a reputation for brutal torture.

[5] A video of his body filmed several days after his death showed numerous injuries, including broken bones, gunshot wounds, burn marks, and mutilated genitals.

[2] After cutting off his penis, Hamza's torturers forced him to continuously drink water so that he had to frequently urinate.

[4] Following the broadcast, by Al Jazeera, of a video showing Hamza's body there was widespread outrage, both online and amongst the protesters in Syria.

[2] In response to Al Jazeera's story, the chief of the Syrian regime's medical examiners association denied that Hamza was tortured.

Akhras had emailed Bashar al-Assad, instructing him to respond to allegations that children are tortured in Syria by dismissing it as "British propaganda".