Coronavirus: doctor questions Vladimir Putin about the fate of Syrian detainees

By: Sami Boukhelifa Follow

The coronavirus is reviving the debate over arbitrary detentions in Syria. Through an unprecedented initiative, a Syrian doctor questions the Russian president on this subject. Doctor Mohamed Abou Hilal addresses a letter to Vladimir Poutine and calls him to put pressure on his ally of Damascus. In the regime's prisons, a cell can accommodate dozens of prisoners piled up on top of each other and therefore at the mercy of the virus.

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Doctor Mohamed Abo Hilal lives today in Turkey. But before leaving his country, he himself went through the prison huts in Damascus. It was in 2011, at the start of the revolution. “  I was arrested for two reasons. The first : to have demonstrated against the regime. The second : to have treated the wounded with gunshots, victims of the repression of the authorities. If they were taken to public hospitals, the protesters risked being arrested,  "he said.

Seventy days behind bars. Half in solitary confinement, the other in a cell with 50 detainees. In prison, her days are punctuated by interrogations and torture. Today, through his letter to the Russian president, the Syrian doctor wishes to act for his compatriots victims of the barbarity of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. 

"  In prison I was beaten, whipped with cables, threatened ... I was told that my family was going to be retaliated against. I thought about suicide. If I wrote this letter to Vladimir Putin about the coronavirus in Syrian prisons, it is mainly to attract attention, to talk about the fate of detainees,  "he said. Then he adds: "  You know, when you are in the regime's prisons you are going through such hell, that coronavirus can be a way to end it. It is horrible to say that, but like me at the time, Syrian detainees must surely wish for death. This virus that scares the world so much can actually put an end to their ordeal.  "

► Read also: In Syria, Amnesty International denounces a "human slaughterhouse" 

"In every Syrian family, there is at least one political detainee"

Nearly ten years of war in Syria, yet nobody knows exactly how many detainees, victims of arbitrary arrests, are languishing in the jails of the regime. Noura Ghazi is the daughter and wife of Syrian political prisoners. In June, this lawyer told the story of her husband during a videoconference of the UN Security Council.

From Lebanon where she found refuge after the execution of her husband, she welcomes the initiative of Doctor Abo Hilal. “  In every Syrian family, there is at least one political detainee. And every day there are new arrests and extrajudicial executions. When someone is arrested in Syria, they disappear and their loved ones never hear from them again,  ”said Noura Ghazi.

Noura Ghazi and Doctor Abo Hilal do not know each other, but the two share the same opinion: Russia allied with Damascus must face up to its responsibilities. "  I am not asking for Putin's help, I urge him to act, to put pressure on Bashar el-Assad," explains Mohamed Abo Hilal . In my letter I did not write “ Dear Vladimir Putin ”. I wrote: “ Mister Putin act! ”  ” 

Every day the doctor checks his mailbox, but for the moment his letter remains unanswered.

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• Syria
• Vladimir Poutine
• Human rights