Today, Monday, the Supreme Court in Christchurch, New Zealand, witnessed the first verdict hearing on the perpetrator of the two mosques massacre, which killed 51 people and injured 40 others from the city's Muslim community during Friday prayers in March of last year.
The Supreme Court judge heard the testimonies of some survivors of the massacre and the families of the victims, and the hearings will continue for 4 days before the verdict is pronounced.
Among the testimonies presented by the families of the victims today was the testimony of Adnan Ezzat, the Iraqi calligrapher and immigrant whose 35-year-old son Hussein Al-Omari was killed and who addressed the perpetrator of the massacre at the end of her influential testimony, saying, "I have decided to pardon you ... because my heart does not bear hatred. .. I do not have Any other choice".
According to a report in the New Zealand Herald, Jannah received the bullet-riddled body of her dead son, Hussein, on her birthday, which coincided with Mother's Day in the Middle East.
"He (my son) used to give me flowers on my birthday, but instead I received his body," the bereaved mother said in her testimony before the court today.
The newspaper pointed out that the perpetrator of the massacre, Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant (29 years), who was sitting in the court dock surrounded by security personnel, nodded a light nod in his head and wiped a tear from his eye as he listened to the testimony of Jannah about the killing of her son and its decision to pardon him.
The testimonies of the survivors of the massacre and the families of the dead included many stories that reflected the feelings of terror, sadness, and heroic deeds that they lived through that difficult day and its repercussions, as well as a lot of challenge and confirmation that the attack would not succeed in breaking their resolve or terror.
The hearing marked the first time that the victims of the massacre faced the serial killer who attacked them and the rest of the defenseless worshipers in two mosques in Christchurch, at the Friday prayer time in mid-March 2019.
In his testimony before the court today, the survivor of the attack, Khaled Al-Noubani, expressed his grief because he was unable to help more people that day, asserting that the attack hurt his heart but would not break it. He addressed the perpetrator of the massacre by saying, "We have become more united, and thanks to that." Up to you. "