A Survivor of Assad's Dungeons Reflects on the Fall of the Regime

A Survivor of Assad's Dungeons Reflects on the Fall of the Regime

By Mansour Omari 

The monumental, exhilarating, dream-like events in Syria surprised many foreign officials and journalists. Their instant reactions focused on how this would impact regional stability and other, often abstract, geopolitical concerns. However, for many Syrians, what has happened is not just a matter of geopolitical concern; it is truly life-changing, especially for the hundreds of thousands of family members whose loved ones disappeared in the country's vast detention and torture system.

Syrian society experienced a mix of hope and anxiety as opposition forces freed these detainees. Still, tens of thousands of people who have been disappeared by the former regime are nowhere to be found. 

Syrians, both inside and outside the country, are grappling with emotions they never knew existed.

I can still hardly believe that the Assad mafia, who ran Syria into the ground for 53 years, is finally gone. Last Saturday night and Sunday morning were surreal. I could not sleep for days, even when I tried. The adrenaline took care of that.

I've hardly stopped working, including monitoring the situation, alerting colleagues in Syria about locations of unofficial detention facilities and how to effectively document what they uncover.

Sleep and food seem like a distant memory. The deprivation is no longer a punishment but a duty.

Today, I feel like a crushing weight on my body and soul has lifted. I know that this was the first massive hurdle on the path towards a Syria free from authoritarianism. I know the road will be long and complex. I know we will face many who want to hold us back, externally and internally, but I will walk it with my fellow free Syrians regardless.

The significance of the detainees and the disappeared.

Syria under the Assad's was a prison state. Reaching the detention facilities to free the detainees was a top priority for the armed forces pushing back Assad's beleaguered foot soldiers. The demand for the release of detainees was one of the first slogans of the 2011 Syrian uprisings. Protests across the country consistently called for the freedom of political prisoners. The Assad regime's widespread arrests only served to intensify the demonstrations and armed resistance and, eventually, the fall of the regime.

The release of thousands of detainees from regime prisons marks a significant turning point. However, it also serves as a stark reminder of the tens of thousands whose whereabouts remain unknown and the countless others who were killed in custody.

The plight of the detained and disappeared people has had a profound impact on Syrian families and society as a whole. When a family member is unfairly arrested, the family's life is turned upside down. They face numerous challenges, including loss, uncertainty, and financial hardship. This tragedy is a societal catastrophe and, as we have witnessed, could not be contained.

The need for urgent action and international support

Every Syrian I've spoken to talks about loved ones who have disappeared and are praying for their release. They're trying everything to find out some news about them. We desperately need relief and to heal.

The freed detainees need comprehensive support for their well-being. This includes addressing their physical and psychological needs, safeguarding their dignity, and facilitating swift reunions with their families. A dedicated workgroup should be established to coordinate these essential efforts. This workgroup should coordinate these efforts as soon as possible and work to support released detainees with the aid of relevant Syrian and international organizations, benefiting from their expertise. Those who can contribute to these efforts include Syrian civil society groups, the White Helmets, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other international medical groups.

A dedicated work group should also be tasked with documenting the names and experiences of released detainees and thoroughly documenting the conditions in these prisons, securing them, as well as the sites of mass graves. Several entities, including the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria, and Amnesty International, can contribute to these efforts.

These places are crime scenes and must not be damaged. This information is crucial for reuniting families and obtaining justice. Governments, the UN, and international organizations should urgently prepare to support those efforts. We need closure.

As a former detainee, I can attest to the lasting impact of imprisonment. It is not merely a temporary ordeal; it is a life-altering experience that leaves deep psychological scars.

In 2012, I worked at the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression in Damascus, which had consultative status with the United Nations and focused on documenting human rights violations. I was in charge of the detainee's documentation office at the Violations Documentation program.

Government forces raided our offices, kidnapped me and my colleagues, and forcibly disappeared us without any access to family or lawyers. I was subjected to daily torture of various kinds until my release in 2013 as a result of international pressure, including from Amnesty International.

Upon my release, I was like a child relearning life, learning to walk and everything all over again. I suffered from illnesses associated with detention and was in a psychological state that could not be ignored and had to be addressed appropriately.

Many of the symptoms and effects of detention have passed, especially the physical ones, but I still suffer from psychological issues. Detention in Assad's prisons is not a passing event in life but an experience that, if you survive it, may leave you permanently changed physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Finally, the opposition forces that led the prison raids say they want to achieve the goals of the Syrian Revolution, reassure the various segments of Syrian society, and send messages of trust to the Syrian people. Therefore, given the priority of the issue of political detention, all parties to the conflict in Syria, including them, must release all political prisoners and arbitrarily detained people in their prisons. This is the step that will help prove that they are serious in their actions, not just their words, in protecting the dignity of the Syrian people and families and in avoiding sowing the seeds of conflict again or repeating the violations of the Assad regime that they claim to be liberating the Syrian people from.

The coming elected government's first actions should include:

• Ratifying several international treaties and conventions, including the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture.
• The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
• Enshrining them within a Syrian constitution and national law.

Syrians can not risk being deprived of international protection once again. We've come too far and made so many sacrifices to replace authoritarianism and impunity with authoritarianism and impunity.

 Mansour Omari is a Syrian human rights defender. He holds an LLM in Transitional Justice and Conflict. Omari works with international and Syrian human rights organizations to hold the perpetrators of international crimes in Syria accountable. In 2012, Omari was detained and tortured by the Syrian government for 356 days for documenting its atrocities while working with the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression as the supervisor of the Detainees Office.