‘Lost in Syria’s Black Hole’ is a public condemnation of violations in the country’s prisons, inflicted with complete disregard for the law. It is a collective history of abuse, torture, interrogations, intimidation and isolation. It is a warning cry against the government’s over-used accusation that those detained are supporters of “terrorism”.
Ghada and Sawsan al-Abbar were arrested together on December 21, 2012 in the town of Daraya, just outside of Damascus and are still in prison. Ghada is a lawyer who was working with a group of other lawyers trying to document human rights abuses. Her sister Sawsan worked as an administrator in the city’s hospital. The two women were detained by security agents for involvement in peaceful, political activities. After 18 months in the Al-Kathib prison of Damascus, they were transferred to the Adra Central prison in the same city. Last June, the women appeared before the Counterterrorism Court, but have not been sentenced. Their family has petitioned the authorities for their release, but has not received any response.
The same applies for Yehia and Mohamed Shorbaji. To this day there is still no news of Mohamed. The two brothers were arrested on September 6, 2011 for being members of the non-violent Daraya Youth group and peacefully protesting government tactics. Their arrest came on the same day security forces also killed Ghiyath Mattar, the group’s leader, while he was in custody. Four days later, security forces returned Mattar’s body to his family. A former inmate at Sednaya prison told a relative of Mohamed and Yehia that he had seen the brothers there in 2013, although prison authorities refused to confirm they were there. The family has requested visitation rights, which have been consistently denied.
Also part of Daraya Youth, Mazen Shorbaji was arrested in his home by security agents, who also threatened to detain his wife. A bookstore owner and peace activist, during confrontations with government forces Mazen helped wounded protesters find a safe place to receive medical treatment.
The last time the family saw Mazen was in Sednaya prison in July 2012. A close relative of the Shorbaji family, Nabil, a journalist who had written articles supporting freedom of expression and criticizing corruption, was arrested March 16, 2011. He was released 17 days later, but arrested again on February 26, 2012 at an Air Force Intelligence checkpoint in the neighborhood of Al-Thawra in Daraya. Members of Nabil’s family were only able to visit him once in Adra, where he remains in detention without a trial date.
Mohamed Atfah, who was released after months of detention, is no longer able to recognize people around him and has lost his memory, his family told HRW. The 20-year old volunteer had been working to help children traumatized by the war in a non-profit psychological support program in Homs.
Mohamed Nour al- Shemali, almost 20 years old like Atfah, was arrested as he walked through the gates of Aleppo University on his way to interview internally displaced Syrians who were taking shelter in the university dormitories. It was December 2012. Mohamed previously documented abuses by the Syrian government and he shared his findings regularly with international media. Almost two years after his arrest, his family still has no idea where security agents are holding him or why.
Hussein Essou is one of the oldest known political detainees. Kurdish activist Essou, 65, worked to with local farmers in the northeastern province of al-Hassaka to prevent the government sell off of agricultural lands. After being refused a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad to discuss the land sale, Hussein led a protest in late August 2011 in front of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in al-Hassaka. On the evening of September 2, 2011, security agents arrested him at his home. He has been detained ever since.
According to a man who had been detained with Hussein, when he saw him December 2012, the imprisoned activist had lost the use of his legs. The family has had no further news and all requests for visitation rights have been denied by authorities. Last January, Hussein’s family organized a protest in front of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in al-Hassaka, the very place where agents first arrested Hussein, to seek his release.
Their stories, along with those of Khairo and Islam Al-Dabbas, Ali Al-Shebabi, Nidal Nahlavi, Hani Zaitani, Mazen Darvish, Hussein Gharir, Bassel Khartabil, Anas Al-Shoghary, Khalil Maatouk, Mohamed Meqdad and Abdul Akram Al-Sakka, all have similarities that reflect an alarming situation in which everyday people are “lost”, and at times do not return.
Through this web-based campaign, HRW underlines that the Syrian government should provide immediate and unhindered access for international monitors, lawyers and family members to all detention facilities to verify the detainees’ conditions.
By the same token, the human-rights watchdog encourages the international community to call on the United Nations Security Council and the International Criminal Court to investigate those bearing responsibility for abuses in Syria.
In the report, HRW also scrutinizes armed opposition groups that practice arbitrary detainment and inhumane treatment of civilians. The release of political prisoners is a priority for any future negotiations and the basis for the reconstruction of the country and its institutions.
To see the campaign go to: http://www.hrw.org/lost-in-syrias-black-hole#gallery_top
Translated by Kathryn Carlisle