[Published here on July 24, 2018]
“That’s it? You’re sure he’s dead?” Seven years had passed with no news, but Salwa could hardly believe her nephew, a Syrian activist arrested in 2011, had been dead the last five.
detainees
As Syria rebels quit Douma, questions linger over detainees, activists | AFP
[Published here on April 13, 2018]
Damascus (Syria) (AFP) – As Syrian rebels evacuate their holdout town of Douma, hope is dwindling that four iconic activists and hundreds of others suspected to have been kidnapped there will be found alive.
Syrians seek release of prisoners from ‘crematorium’ jail | AFP
[Published here on May 17, 2017]
Standing outside the UN’s headquarters in Geneva, Amina Kholani chokes back tears as she relives the nightmare of visiting relatives in Saydnaya, one of Syria’s most notorious prisons.
When they took me | NOW News
[Published here November 8, 2013]
This is a multimedia piece best experienced on the website itself, but I have also included the text below.
When the uprising hit Damascus, women were at the front lines of the demonstrations – which meant they, like their male peers, were arrested and detained by Syria’s feared security forces. Three of these women, held for their involvement in the peaceful, civil movement, spoke to NOW about their experiences. While their tales of torture are more psychological than physical, the scars remain. Almost incredulously, they call themselves “lucky,” knowing that the cases of more recently-detained Syrian women have become infinitely more gruesome and physically horrific. Though their names have been changed for safety reasons, these women’s stories remain a potent reminder of a terrifying tool still used by Assad’s security forces: detainment.
MAYA GEBEILY 