ISTANBUL // Sami Al Sari will never forget the sheer terror of lying next to so many corpses in the back of the hearse.
“They were naked, signs of torture were obvious on their bodies and faces,” he recalled of the day when he was finally reunited with his family after four months of vicious torture in the hands of Syria’s regime forces.
The 25-year-old Syrian was smuggled out of a notorious prison in a hearse full of dead inmates, and dumped in a desolate area outside Damascus in November 2012. His escape was possible only because his family paid a hefty sum of two million Syrian pounds (Dh34,440) to rescue him.
"I was surrounded by horror for a whole hour that felt like a decade," he told The National.
When the Syrian revolution started in 2011, Sami was only 20 years old and a final year student studying political science at Damascus University. Like many other youths at that time, he could not sit and watch the uprising happening in his country without taking part in it. Full of hopes and ambitions for himself and his people, he never imagined his life would take such a sharp turn until one fateful day in 2012.
On July 16 that year, more than a year after the Arab Spring started, Syrian security forces stormed Sami’s house, and arrested him and his four friends for taking part in a protest in front of the Iranian embassy.
“At that moment, everything turned dark in front of my eyes. Not just because I was blindfolded, but also for knowing where I was taken to. I heard many horror stories of that place, and I thought I would be one lucky guy if I ever made it out alive,” Sami said.
He and his friends were taken to the so-called “Apparatus 215” – an infamous detention centre run by forces loyal to president Bashar Al Assad. It was there that the “torture festival” began, said Sami.
The guards separated the friends, and placed Sami in solitary confinement. He has not seen or heard any news of his friends since then.
“The cell was very dirty. I couldn’t sleep or sit at the beginning. There were bugs and rodents everywhere. I was getting just one meal a day that contained a piece of bread with a barely edible potato, and one dirty bottle of water,” Sami recalled.
His torture “took many shapes and methods”.
“I was beaten and lashed with a whip on my whole body, put on a torturing chair called ‘Nazi’s chair’ that almost broke my back, cigarettes were put out in my body, and I was hung from a windowsill for hours. It was four months of non-stop torture,” Sami said.
“Then came the electrocution. They would shock me on my head, my neck and all over. It was extremely painful.”
Sami was heavily and routinely electrocuted, until one day when he lost consciousness during one of the sessions. He thinks it was around this time that he suffered a temporary loss of memory and has little recollection of what his tormentors did to him after that.
He believes, however, that they continued to torture him even when he was experiencing amnesia. “When I eventually gained some of my memory back, I was able to see clearly the signs of torture all over my body,” he said.
During his captivity, Sami’s family tried relentlessly to get him out. After a few weeks, they were finally able to reach an officer from the prison through a mediator.
The officer agreed to help them if they paid him two million Syrian pounds, and came up with the idea of smuggling Sami out with his dead fellow inmates. He also agreed to deliver Sami to an uninhabited area right outside Damascus.
It was when he was next to all the dead bodies that he “started recalling everything I went through until that moment”, he said.
After an hour, “the car stopped, the back door was opened and I was dumped on the road”, he said.
“I saw my brother approaching the car and then he held me and hugged me, and took me home.”
Plagued by memories of the grisly experience, he was unable to eat or sleep due to the constant nightmares. His family eventually took him to Lebanon for treatment, where a psychiatrist took care of him for a few weeks, before he returned to Syria.
Not long after, the security forces began pursuing him again when they heard of his escape.
Following months on the run, Sami’s family decided to relocate with him from Damascus to the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where they were originally from. He finally made it to Turkey in April this year after obtaining fake identification papers and enduring an arduous journey through many checkpoints.
It was only when his family managed to escape to Turkey that he broke his silence.
But, like so many other Syrian refugees who have escaped torture and death under the tyranny of war, Sami is still struggling to get back on his feet.
“The screaming of other inmates echoed all over the place through the day and night,” he recalled of his time in prison.
“It was a horrifying thing by itself. It was unbelievably inhuman.”
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
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How Beautiful this world is!
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
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Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
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Nov 15-18 v Cricket Australia XI, Townsville (d/n)
Nov 23-27: 1ST TEST v AUSTRALIA, Brisbane
Dec 02-06: 2ND TEST v AUSTRALIA, Adelaide (d/n)
Dec 09-10: v Cricket Australia XI, Perth
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Four reasons global stock markets are falling right now
There are many factors worrying investors right now and triggering a rush out of stock markets. Here are four of the biggest:
1. Rising US interest rates
The US Federal Reserve has increased interest rates three times this year in a bid to prevent its buoyant economy from overheating. They now stand at between 2 and 2.25 per cent and markets are pencilling in three more rises next year.
Kim Catechis, manager of the Legg Mason Martin Currie Global Emerging Markets Fund, says US inflation is rising and the Fed will continue to raise rates in 2019. “With inflationary pressures growing, an increasing number of corporates are guiding profitability expectations downwards for 2018 and 2019, citing the negative impact of rising costs.”
At the same time as rates are rising, central bankers in the US and Europe have been ending quantitative easing, bringing the era of cheap money to an end.
2. Stronger dollar
High US rates have driven up the value of the dollar and bond yields, and this is putting pressure on emerging market countries that took advantage of low interest rates to run up trillions in dollar-denominated debt. They have also suffered capital outflows as international investors have switched to the US, driving markets lower. Omar Negyal, portfolio manager of the JP Morgan Global Emerging Markets Income Trust, says this looks like a buying opportunity. “Despite short-term volatility we remain positive about long-term prospects and profitability for emerging markets.”
3. Global trade war
Ritu Vohora, investment director at fund manager M&G, says markets fear that US President Donald Trump’s spat with China will escalate into a full-blown global trade war, with both sides suffering. “The US economy is robust enough to absorb higher input costs now, but this may not be the case as tariffs escalate. However, with a host of factors hitting investor sentiment, this is becoming a stock picker’s market.”
4. Eurozone uncertainty
Europe faces two challenges right now in the shape of Brexit and the new populist government in eurozone member Italy.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, which has offices in Dubai, says the stand-off between between Rome and Brussels threatens to become much more serious. "As with Brexit, neither side appears willing to step back from the edge, threatening more trouble down the line.”
The European economy may also be slowing, Mr Beauchamp warns. “A four-year low in eurozone manufacturing confidence highlights the fact that producers see a bumpy road ahead, with US-EU trade talks remaining a major question-mark for exporters.”
Draw
Quarter-finals
Real Madrid (ESP) or Manchester City (ENG) v Juventus (ITA) or Lyon (FRA)
RB Leipzig (GER) v Atletico Madrid (ESP)
Barcelona (ESP) or Napoli (ITA) v Bayern Munich (GER) or Chelsea (ENG)
Atalanta (ITA) v Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Ties to be played August 12-15 in Lisbon
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The view from The National
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