One of the prisons of the Syrian
regime. photo: Global Post
By the will of Allah, the Amanah
of Indonesia for Syria (SA2Syria) Team assisted
the evacuation of two
families of Palestinian refugees out of the city of Aleppo. In one of
the families, the head of the family still walks unsteadily as the marks
of tortures in both of his legs had not recovered fully.
Let us just call the man Utsman, 39
years old, recently released from the prison of the intelligence
headquarters of Syria in Aleppo, two weeks before the meeting with the
SA2Syria Team. His face is sunken.
His cheek bones are bulging out. His oversized hat and winter jacket
made his appearance look like a person who is terminally ill.
Luckily, the lights in his eyes and his smiles never stop surfacing.
The Fushah (original/common/standard)
Arabic language of Utsman is perfect, with the dialect of Palestinian
mixed with Syrian. Throughout his adult life in the Al-Nairab refugee
camp, in the outskirts of Aleppo, Utsman has been a humanitarian worker
whose foundation helped the needs of the Palestinian refugees in that
camp.
His late father earlier left Palestine
to take refuge in Syria. Utsman is one of the hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians-Syrians. Originally Palestinian, but was born in
Syria, and dreams of returning to the liberated Palestine.
Unfortunately, even among the
Palestinaian refugees, there are those who choose to join and support
the regime of Assad, since the onset of the Revolution, exactly two
years ago. It is these people who are spreading terror and fear among
their fellow Palestinian refugees.
Therefore, although he is already
released from prison, Utsman must be evacuated from the refugee camp,
for the sake of his safety and his family's.
This interview with Utsman was done in
a place of hiding in the middle of the city of Aleppo, a day after
Utsman and his family, as well as another family, were successfully
evacuated from the Al-Nairab camp, which until now is still surrounded
by the forces of Assad's regime.
While waiting for the moments, our Team
accompany these two families leaving Syria, Utsman was willing to
tell about his story of being held and tortured for 3 months in the
prison of Assad's regime.
“But don't write down my real name,
do not show the photo of my face, and do not publish this interview
before I go out Syria…,” the terms from him, which were
immediately agreed by us.
The Prison Baby
Utsman is the father of four children.
His latest child was born when he was in jail. The baby was put down
near us, who are in the middle of interviewing the father. The baby
is 1 month old, wrapped tightly with a blanket. The winter was still
biting in Aleppo. Whereas, electricity had been dead for four months
across the city, because the power plant was controlled by the
regime forces.
Outside of our hiding place, thumping
sounds of the bombs, mortars and the rattle of firearms sounded
almost endlessly. This place is indeed only 500 meters away from the
line of battle between the Jaishul Hurr (Free Syria Army) and the
forces of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad.
Amazingly, the other three chidlren of
Utsman, and two children from the other family were playing
cheerfully around us, as if there was no war.
Occasionally, their ravings and
laughters stopped, if they heard the sound of the bombs sounding
close enough. But a second later they were noisy again, running
around, telling stories, singing. Subhanallah… Glory Be To Allah
Who creates resilience in the hearts of these children.
Facilitating The
Government Hospital
Utsman began his story with
BismillaahirRahmaanirRahiim… Alhamdulillaah, as well as Salawat to
Rasulullah.
“Imprisoned for defending the truth
is something that is bequeathed by the prophets, so this is something
that actually is normal,” he said.
Utsman was arrested on 14th October
2012. At that time, he was just out of the hospital that was available in the Al-Nairab
refugee camp. This camp is located in the outskirt of Aleppo, near a
Syrian military air base.
Utsman had just delivered the aid of
medical devices, such as oxygen bottles, breathing assistance
devices, medical status monitors and others.
This is a government hospital under the
regime of Assad. So according to his reckoning, helping that hospital
would not cause a problem for himself.
Once getting out of the hospital,
Utsman was approached by someone who turned out to be an intelligence
apparatus of the Assad's regime. Utsman was asked to follow him to their
HQ for interrogation.
“I was willing to follow him, feeling
only normal. Never thought I would be detained, because I did not
feel that I did anything that was against the regime openly,” said
Utsman.
Although since the previous year, when
the people's resistance against Assad's regime already had gotten very heated,
the name of Utsman had been circulating on the internet connected
with three things: First, he was accused of gathering people to join
the revolution.
Second, he was accused of handing over
the names of the residents of Al-Nairab camp who were suspected as
Shabihah (phantom forces, fanatic supporters of Assad) to the Jaishul
Hurr.
Third, he was suspected of giving
humanitarian assistance to members of the Jaishul Hurr and their families,
whether they were in the regime's prison or were still free.
It was those three things that were
delved deeply by his interrogators when he was probed. After being
questioned for about 1.5 hour, Abu Umar was pronounced detained and
was taken to the military airport in Aleppo. There, he was held in an
underground jail for four days, without seeing the sun.
Imprisoned Syrians in the prison of
Assad's regime in Tadmur or Palmyra. Photo: MRadwan
Just The Beginning
It turned out that those four days were
only a tiny bit compared to what would be experienced by Utsman for
the next three months. At that time, he completely did not know how
long he would be held, and whether he would live or die after the
detention.
After four days, he was dragged and
transported by a military helicopter, with the hands handcuffed backward and blindfolded. Before he was blindfolded, he
had a chance to see, that there were 12 others who would be
transported along with him. Eight Syrians, four Palestinian refugees.
Throughout the flight, they were beaten by the soldiers who guarded
them.
He only found out later that they were
flown to the largest intelligence headquarters in the Northern part
of Syria, near Aleppo too. They had to be flown in by helicopter
because the areas that must be traveled by land had started to be
controlled by the Jaishul Hurr.
It was in that helicopter that the real
savagery began. After a few minutes of flying while continually
beaten and kicked, the twelve prisoners were one by one thrown out of
the helicopter.
They thought they would be killed by
being dropped from a height. Apparently, they were pushed from a
height of only 1 to 1.5 meters from the land, still in a state of
being handcuffed backward and blindfolded, only to terrify.
From the helicopter landing field, they
were herded into the intelligence headquarters building. Once inside,
they were right away forced to get nude, screamed at while being interrogated.
After being told to get clothed again,
Abu Umar was put into a cell which only measures 4×6 meters. The
cell contained not less than 80 people. Yes, 4×6 meters for 80
people.
According to the European Committee for
the Prevention of Torture in Prison, a cell with a measurement of 4×5
meters can only be occupied by a maximum of 5 detainees (left).
Whereas, in the prisons of the Syrian military intelligence, a
cell with that measurement was forced to be occupied by 70 people.
Infographic: Business Insider
Three Months
He was detained there for three months.
During that three months, the number detainees in the cell did not
reduce but increased instead, until finally it reached 110 detainees.
“Because of the extreme narrowness of
our cell, for us to be able to rest, we took turns changing our body
position,” explained Utsman, “For 12 hours, each person can get a ration of 4 hours of standing, 4 hours of sitting and 4 hours of
lying down.”
The time of lying down also does not
mean to lie down perfectly, the knees must be half bent and above
that knees was already other people's head who was also lying down.
The situation was really beyond the limits of humanity.
The first month in the cell, Utsman and
the other occupants of the cell were living and sleeping in the bare cell,
no floor covering, only the floor. At that time, the weather was
still the last part of summer. So the coldness of the floor was not that
very painful yet. That October, the climate was still temperate,
although they did not see the sun at all.
After a month being held in the cell,
Utsman and the other occupants of the cell were given army blankets
that were rough and ugly, even those could not be used as blankets
because all those rags could only be used as floor coverings.
So all detainees in Abu Umar's cell
went through the winter, that was close to 0 degrees, without a
blanket at all.
The Prison Food
The prisoners' feeding rations was only
two meals a day, and it ever happened that for ten days it was only
one meal.
What are the food?
“Per meal, we were only given half a
bread, or two third, or infrequently a whole bread, plus a piece of
boiled potato the size of an eighth of an apple. That's all, for
three months,” said Utsman.
For drinking water, we were given five
kettles for 80 people, which were passed around and asked to be drunk
by a little sip.
“When I recall that sight again,
it was truly like the sight in the slave trade in the past,” Utsman said
softly.
If one day, there was salt given,
according to Utsman it would be recived by the occupants of the cell
like a big party. “As if it's 'Eidul Fitri or 'Eidul Adha,” said
Utsman. As far as he remembers, they were given salt for only twice during the three months. The same goes with slices of egg.
According to Utsman, for ten
days in the three months, the prisoners were not given bread at
all, only boiled potatoes about the size of three fingers.
To the toilet? You'd have to get badly
bruised first.
The extraordinarily narrow cell was not
equipped with a toilet at all. So they could only go to the toilet if
they ask for permission. If there was a prisoner requesting to go
to the toilet, even if he was finally permitted out of the cell, he must
get ready to face punishments. Once the one requesting was passing
through the door of the cell, he was right away beaten and kicked
while walking toward the toilet.
Urination and defecation should not be
done in the position of sitting or squatting. It had to be done
standing. If one was caught of sitting or squatting,
he would be right away beaten. Washing or istinja’ was allowed,
but after washing they were forbidden to wash hands at the tap. If
one was caught of washing hands at the tap, he would be beaten
severely.
“So one must know how to wash the
hands while pretending to do istinja’…” said Utsman.
Can we imagine for a moment…
The prisoners of the Assad regime in
the prison didn't see the sun for months, 80 people were put together
in one cell measuring 4×6 meters, with a very bad air circulation,
sleeping without floor covering, or with bare coverings, never
showered at all, the beard and moustache were not shaven at all,
undernourished, urination and defecation that were not properly done,
and it happened continuously for 24 hours during the three months, for
sure there were a lot of infectious diseases, especially skin
diseases.
A form of torture as reported by the Human
Rights Watch, that was also suffered by Utsman. ilustration: Business
Insider
Interrogation = Torture
Every time there was a prisoner who was
summoned for questioning, he had to suffer sadistic tortures that
left behind wounds. And those wounds would not be treated.
Besides that, Abu Umar counted, for 3
months, he and his cell mates were subjected to 10 mass tortures
inside the cell.
Among the forms of mass tortures were,
all the 80 people were forced to stand as close to each other and the
wall as possible. The bodies of those 80 people were closely packed
together making it difficult to breathe. They were forced to maintain
that position for hours while being screamed at. Those who could not
hold out and let go or fell from the pack, would be beaten severely.
There were some people who were forced
to put their arms and bodies close to the wall for hours. If due to
weariness they lowered their arms or let go of their bodies off the
wall, they would be right away beaten.
There were 5-6 people who were to
forced to lie down on their stomach and then their legs were beaten
until they were wounded.
There was a businessman who was already
old, from his appearance he seemed to be a rich and respectable
person. He was in the same cell as Abu Umar. He was ill and asked
permission to go the toilet for bowel movements.
“Poor him.. once the cell door was
opened, instead of letting him go to the toilet, he was beaten all
out till he defecated in his pants…,” Utsman remembered.
The Peak of Winter
When winter peaked early in the month
of January, imagine 110 people in a cell which only measures 4×6
meters with no blanket. Their breaths emitted vapor. So much vapour came out through the small ventilator, that even
the prison warders thought that fires had broken out, due to the thickness of the vapour from
the breath that came out like smoke.
There was absolutely no compassion and
humanity among those warders. Utsman believes that 99% of those
warders who tortured them for three months were the people of
Nusairiyah-‘Alawiyah (Shi'ah).
For three months Utsman was not
interrogated at all. Whereas in theory, an interrogation is the only
way for the prisoners to be possibly free.
“Although each one of those
interrogated was always tortured severely,” Utsman explained, “I
though it would be better for me to be interrogated, anyway I really
never did what they accused me of. So I thought, let them torture me
until they get tired, hopefully they would finally free me.”
After constantly asking, Utsman was
eventually interrogated. Again and again he was asked about the three
things that were charged on him. Utsman told them, “I am an
ordinary Palestinian refugee, nothing to do with this revolution.”
“We Palestinians, are few in number
and our goal is only to free our country, Palestine. We finally will
also go back to Palestine. Throughout my whole life in Syria, I also
never steal or get involved in crimes, and all the duties as
Palestinian refugees in Syria have always been fulfilled by us.”
His interrogator said like this, “You
don't need to be a pretentious nationalist. We know all your life
history. We also know that you are a Hamas volunteer. We know who
Hamas is… Traitor. We used to help them, but now they don't want to
help our ruler…”
And then I was tortured. For hours, the
soles of my feet were struck continuously with a hard object made of
silicone. Every time they were struck, what's affected was the whole front part
of the bones of the soles and then the beating device right away
darted smiting his shin.
“Look at this…” Utsman took off
his socks and showed both soles. “At the time I was out of the
prison, it was blackened, full of blood clot…”
A big part of the skin of both soles
are now exfoliating. There were still marks of previous wounds in
both shins.
According to Utsman, the purpose of the
torture was to force himself to admit the alleged three things.
He was also forced to attach the body
to the wall while both hands tied to the window for God knows
how many hours, he could not remember because he fainted many times. As
a result, for almost a week, both the thumbs, forefingers and middle
fingers were numb.
Marks of tortures showed by Utsman
after having managed to leave Syria. photo: Sahabat Al-Aqsha
Still Alhamdulillah
“Alhamdulillah, Allah gave me sabr,
enduring all those tortures for three months, to the point that when
I was tortured during interrogation, I did not admit anything. I am
sure my patience in not admitting them, by the permission of Allah,
had sped up by freedom,” said Utsman.
Because, still according to Utsman,
there were some people who actually did not do whatever was alleged
by the intelligence apparatus of Assad, but they were heavily
tortured. And then they were promised freedom if they admit, but once
admitting, they were not freed but instead were tortured even more
heavily and their period of imprisonment were extended.
Shortly after the heavy interrogation,
Utsman was freed. At midnight in the winter, he was thrown out from a
car, exactly in the place where he was found by the intelligence
apparatus who then took him three months ago.
Both his neighbours and family could
not recognize him. Because he lost almost of half of his body weight,
smelling bad. With his hair, beard and moustache, he looked lime
someone who had been stranded in a deserted island for months.
Alhamdulillah, Allah willed that Utsman
is gathered again with his family.
It is time for him to depart now, soon
as this interview is done, Utsman and his family, as well as another
family, and the SA2Syria Team would penetrate the border leaving this
country that had once been blessed by Allah… But now is ravaged by
the wrath of its ruler.
According to the Syrian Network for
Human Rights Documentation, since March 2011 until the end of January
2013, the regime of Assad have been imprisoning and torturing not
less than 194,000 citizens of Syria. Various forms of tortures and
details of the number of victims of the sadism of the regime in
prison can be read again in the report that have been published by
this Sahabat Syria.
In shaa Allah, we will never forget
you, brothers and sisters in Syria, whether you are outside the
prison, or still inside the prisons enduring the severity of the
tortures.
May Allah lighten your sufferings in
the day and night, and speed up the victory for you in the duniya and
Akhirah-AMEEN YA RAB!!!
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