Although the Syrian artist Abdul Hakim Qatifan lives his fourth year in the country of asylum, Germany, like any other Syrian refugee.
But he describes the stage he is going through as an emergency situation for which he was forcibly coerced, and he will return as soon as he obtain formal residency for himself and his family.
The artist opposed to the Syrian regime did not have many options after a long journey from Syria to Egypt, the Gulf, and then Germany, after he was subjected to several death threats and liquidations.
Because of his bold positions against the regime and his open support for the popular movement in Syria, which was launched from his hometown of Daraa in the spring of 2011.
Early arrest
In 1981 Qutaifan graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus, which is the institution that gave birth to most of the Syrian drama stars whose star had shined earlier, and Qetaifan had great ambitions to prove himself as a promising actor in Syria.
However, fate halted his career only two years after its inception, when the twenty-year-old Qatifan was arrested on charges of inciting against Hafez al-Assad's rule at the time, to turn from a project of a young artist to a prisoner in the dark.
Nine years were enough for the young Qatifan to form a state of rebellion against the Syrian regime at a later time, as he was subjected to torture and abuse inside the prison, and the queen of feeling and art did not intercede for him to be treated with special treatment.
"Pardon" and a new phase
After the departure of Qatifan as part of a general amnesty issued by the President of the Syrian regime, Hafez al-Assad in 1991, a new phase began for the actor, who faced marginalization and the denial of his friends as a result of the arrest experience, which had difficulties with the acceptance of his artistic community, which is the opposition and the former detainee.
Which shocked him great for a period of his life.
Qatifan's state of retreat did not continue, as he quickly proved an overwhelming presence in the Syrian drama in several series, most notably: the curse of mud, gazelles in the wolf forest, mirrors, saraya abdeen, and birth from the loins, where he appeared with his performance of the character "Abu Iyad", an influential official in the authority The Syrian regime manages files of corruption and mismanagement through a network of corrupt employees, in the early stages of the beginning of the Syrian revolution in 2011, where the role reveals how the regime dealt with the movement.
Artist Abdul Hakim Qatifan leads a demonstration against the Syrian regime (social networking sites)
Revolution and Asylum
Qatifan did not hesitate for a moment to support the Syrian revolution, which sparked it from his hometown Daraa (southern Syria), and he was a former detainee at the time of Hafez al-Assad, which paid a heavy price for marginalization and exclusion from the artistic scene, before he deported to Egypt following death threats due to His position.
Katifan reckons his personal efforts to support the displaced Syrians, as the rebel artist made several visits to the Syrian camps in Idlib to participate in relief and humanitarian work, as well as his support for the opposition factions, and to encourage them in their battles with the Syrian regime forces.
Qatifan was forced, he says, to deport to Germany as a Syrian refugee without any privileges.
But he never stopped supporting the Syrians and the movement from Europe, so the man presented several messages to the Syrian people through communication means to support the displaced in Idlib, and the most prominent of his artistic activities was a song in the lament of the activist and fighter in the ranks of the opposition, "Abdul Basit Sarout", whom Syrians call the guardian of the revolution, It was titled "If You Return".