Bashar al-Assad fell – that is when a lady discovered about her husband’s previous

It was early December when Douna Haj Ahmed, a Syrian refugee, found the disturbing particulars of her husband’s detention within the infamous Al-Khatib jail – referred to as “Hell on Earth“.

She watched on the information at house in London as disoriented prisoners fled the nation’s brutal safety equipment after insurgent forces ousted Bashar al-Assad from the presidency.

In tears, Abdullah Al Nofal, her husband of eight years, sat subsequent to her, circled and stated: “That is the place I used to be arrested, that is the place .

Douna, whose brothers have been additionally arrested throughout Syria’s 13-year civil battle, says she had an thought of ​​what her husband skilled throughout his detention – however this was the primary time he shared all the main points of what he endured.

“Abdullah would not wish to share issues emotionally, he likes to look like a robust man on a regular basis,” Douna, 33, informed the BBC.

“It was a turning level. I noticed him weak. I noticed him cry. I noticed him say, ‘That is the place I used to be. I may very well be one in every of them. I May very well be one in every of them proper now, or I may very well be lifeless.” ‘.

“I really feel that when he noticed that, he felt that [was] closure,” she provides. “Now we wish individuals to know what the Syrians went by.”

Abdullah, 36, was working in Damascus as a storekeeper for the Worldwide Committee of the Purple Cross in July 2013 when he and his colleagues have been arrested at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the Syrian capital.

He says he participated in anti-regime protests in 2011 within the southern metropolis of Daraa, the place the rebellion in opposition to Assad started, however rapidly distanced himself when rebels started utilizing violence and weapons in response to a crackdown brutality of the regime forces.

Abdullah was noticed on the checkpoint and placed on a inexperienced bus, handcuffed and blindfolded, then taken to a army zone. He says he was then positioned in solitary confinement for 3 days and overwhelmed.

“It was so darkish for 3 days, I keep in mind,” he says.

“I do not [hear] any sound. It was so darkish. You do not hear something. You’re feeling so alone.”

Abdullah was then transported to Al-Khatib, a detention heart in Damascus, and brought to a cell containing round 130 individuals.

Al-Khatib was one in every of a number of detention facilities run by Syrian intelligence providers.

Practically 60,000 individuals have been tortured and killed in prisons run by the Assad regime through the civil battle, based on the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group.

Two years in the past, a landmark trial in Germany revealed a Syrian colonel who worked in Al-Khatib guilty of crimes against humanity. Anwar Raslan, 58, was linked to the torture of greater than 4,000 individuals in jail.

In courtroom, witnesses described how detainees have been raped and hung from the ceiling for hours, in addition to the usage of electrical shocks earlier than being watered. Assad’s authoritarian authorities had beforehand denied accusations of torture.

Throughout his detention in 2013, Abdullah describes how he frequently heard cries of tortured people.

He remembers that illnesses have been widespread and round 20 individuals died throughout his detention there.

“Once I began wanting in every single place, there have been individuals nearly bare,” he informed the BBC. “They have been filled with blood, as in the event that they [have] been tortured.

“If you’re not tortured your self, each minute they may take somebody away to research.

“They will come again into the room filled with blood… each time you contact somebody, they’re going to scream since you touched their wound.”

After 12 days, Abdullah was taken in for questioning. He claims to have been hit a number of instances with a metallic weapon and accused of carrying weapons.

He explains that he couldn’t deny the accusations in opposition to him as a result of it could lead to a chronic punishment.

“So long as you say, ‘I did not do it,’ they may proceed to torture you and take you to a different stage of torture,” he says.

“Each minute it feels such as you’re dying.”

Abdullah stated he informed police a false story to keep away from additional questioning and was “fortunate” to be launched after a month.

A number of years later, he left Syria and subsequently obtained scholarships in Geneva and the USA. He’s now primarily based in London along with his spouse.

Solely now does Abdullah really feel in a position to share the total horror of his experiences along with his spouse, as the danger and concern he confronted slowly disappears.

“We’re lastly ending[ed] with the regime, we will say that we’re really free in the mean time,” he says.

“You need to use our title. You need to use our face. We will inform the entire story.”

Douna, a human rights activist, sobbed when she heard her husband’s experiences for the primary time.

“I heard it and I cried. Each time I really feel that this weight loss program [has reached] as many horrors as doable, horrible tales,” she says.

“It surprises me that no, that is not the utmost. There may very well be extra.”

She provides: “We’re privileged to have the ability to inform our tales. Many individuals have died with out being heard.”