DUBAI: The last message Deyaa’s family received came through a borrowed satellite phone as he crossed the Mediterranean Sea.

“Mama, I am Deyaa. I am fine.”

It was Aug. 24, 2014. Two days later, the boat he was on sank off the Libyan coast. He was never found.

Deyaa, a Syrian photographer and father to a baby girl, had left the country after a close friend was detained at the Syrian-Lebanese border.

Deyaa, a Syrian photographer and father to a baby girl, had left the country