If you are Syrian or spent years following the war, the chances are that you know of someone who was imprisoned by the former regime. In cases of people accused of ‘terrorism’, the person’s ultimate fate very much feels like matter of sheer luck. With the fall of the Assad regime, some have made it out alive, while many others have likely perished under torture and been dumped in mass graves. Given the frequent capriciousness of the prison and judicial system under Assad, it is often not clear why some were executed while others have survived.
Back in 2018, a person I knew from the al-Rafid area in al-Qunaytra province on the border with the Golan Heights was arrested by the regime’s security apparatus. After initially being detained for a short period and then released, he was rearrested. Over the years, I would occasionally ask others about his whereabouts, only to hear that he was still in prison (assuming he was still alive). Following the fall of the Assad regime, I initially heard nothing about his fate, and had largely given up on the hope that he might still be alive, until, much to my surprise, he reconnected with me today! The following interview documents his experiences in prison as well as how he views the current situation in Syria and the issue of Israel’s incursion into al-Qunaytra.
With the fall of the Assad regime, some have made it out alive, while many others have likely perished under torture and been dumped in mass graves. Given the frequent capriciousness of the prison and judicial system under Assad, it is often not clear why some were executed while others have survived.
Q: When did they arrest you on the first occasion? As I remember they arrested you for a period and released you? Can you clarify what happened on the first occasion?
A: On 16 August 2018 they arrested me for the first time in coordination with one of the notables of the locality. They put in place a precise ambush in the locality of al-Hayran which is around 3km from my house in the locality of al-Rafid. They took me to the interrogation branch at al-Mezzeh military airport. I stayed there for around one month and sixteen days. They did a deal with me and released me. When I reneged on the agreement they arrested me again on 29 October 2018.
Q: What was the accusation initially? Ad how did they treat you the first time, and how did you get out?
A: The accusation was committing terrorist acts a number of times resulting in the killing of personnel and officers in the Syrian Arab Army and officers in the internal security forces, as well as financing terrorist acts on a number of occasions. The treatment was not very bad on the first period of arrest, because they wanted to get me out of prison in a deal whereby I would work for them, performing serious and risky assignments.
Q: So they did not torture you for example, and did you pay a bribe to get out?
A: There was torture, but not much. I did not pay anything. When they got me out, they told me: if they ask you how you got out, say you paid a bribe.
Q: Oh I see. What work did they want from you? For example spying on the people of your locality? Or what exactly?
A: They put a number of assignments to me and said to me: choose the assignment you can do.
Q: And when you got out from prison did you intend to perform this assignment?
A: Frankly I was very hesitant. I did not have many options, because they threatened to harm my family and children, but I did not do anything. I tried to flee and they arrested me in the Hama region.
Q: You tried to flee to Turkey, you mean.
A: Yes.
Q: On the second occasion what was the official accusation? In what prisons did they put you? And did they put you before a court to pass a sentence on you?
A: The official accusation is as present in the ID I have sent you [i.e. committing and financing terrorism]. I remained for a year in prisons affiliated with the air intelligence, and the Palestine branch and Branch 48 of the Military Intelligence. A year later they put me before a committee of five people from a number of security branches and they decided to refer my case to the terrorism cases court, and the court proceedings began and did not end. The regime fell and we got out of prison.
The interviewee’s prisoner ID card, issued by the Damascus Central Prison affiliated with the Interior Ministry. The document gives his name, his mother’s name, year and place of birth (1981: al-Qunaytra), domicile (al-Rafid), location in the prison, the alleged crime (committing and financing acts of terrorism), and the visit day. The document was issued 27 June 2019. Certain information has been redacted to protect the interviewee’s identity.
Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi
Q: So you mean the court proceedings were ongoing when the regime fell.
A: Yes.
Q: Was the torture more intense this time?
A: Ohhhh: I broke my right foot, and I lost some teeth.
Q: What methods of torture did they use? And how was the food in the prison?
A: Beating, shabah and fracturing, atrocious. In the air intelligence they adopted the method of shabah and flaying and starvation. The food was an olive or two olives, sometimes up to five olives for breakfast, and one egg for four people, of course with a roll of bread. For lunch, half a boiled potato or a cup of rice or cracked wheat with a roll of bread, and likewise for dinner.
Q: Did you make a false confession in the prisons?
A: Most of the confessions were false.
Q: Were you kept in isolation in prison, or were you with other prisoners?
A: Half the time in isolation and half the time with a group, or on each occasion with different groups. In total I was in the security branches for a year and after this I was transferred to Damascus Central Prison and stayed there until I got out.
Q: Can you describe what happened on the day of liberation?
A: We were waiting to get out since the battle of Aleppo began. We prepared our bags and waited for the fighters to come to liberate us from the prison. But the surprise was the fall of Damascus before the fighters reached it. We received news at around 2 a.m. about the fall of Damascus and we broke down the doors and got out. I remained in Damascus till the morning and they sent a car from al-Rafid to Damascus and it got me back home. There was utter chaos in Damascus. It’s a day I’ll never forget.
Q: So you freed yourselves and did not have to wait for the fighters to come?
A: No one came. When we got out we didn’t find anyone. We freed ourselves and broke down the doors and got out. We had waited for a week and no one came.
Q: Okay how did you hear about the news of Aleppo’s liberation when you were in prison?
A: We had a television and news channels and we had telephones. We were following the news minute by minute. We also had external contacts.
Q: These things were smuggled into the prison?
A: No, they were present in the prison’s administration room: the association for the care for prisoners. I will tell you something. I knew of the military operation around a month before it began.
Q: How did you know?
A: Via contact with friends of mine in Jordan and friends of mine in Turkey. [I knew] even more than two months before it began, to be precise. I also contacted my family and told them I will get out soon and they were laughing at me, hahahahaha.
Q: Finally how do you assess the current situation in Syria? In your view what is the necessary step to take to deal with the problem of the Israeli occupation in al-Qunaytra?
A: In my view, building good relations with Israel by the new government will be better for the two sides and Syria’s future. The truth in my view is that it is not an occupation because they have not attacked or killed anyone, nor have they displaced anyone. We can’t say it is an occupation. As for assessing the situation in Syria right now, the picture has not yet become clear. But we hope the Syrian people will live in peace because they have got tired of the woes of war. The Syrian people need stability. The Syrian people are good and deserve to live a calm and good life.
