The Price of Opinion: The Use of Torture in Syria Suppresses Free Speech and Leads to Displacement

The Price of Opinion: The Use of Torture in Syria Suppresses Free Speech and Leads to Displacement

            The experience of Dr. Mohammed Sheik Ibrahim who reported being tortured and imprisoned by Syrian forces loyal to Assad for speaking out against the regime are far too common. “…they would make me stand for hours. They beat me. They used wooden sticks and metal sticks,” he says. “I heard them raping women and girls in the rooms nearby” (Franklin, 42). Much to his credit, this treatment was not enough to consider leaving his home in Syria. It was only after his life was directly threatened that he fled to neighboring Turkey. And what was his crime?  It was speaking out against the human rights abuses committed by Assad that he witnessed first-hand as a physician.

            Reporter Mark Johnson has gathered similar reports in “Reporter's Notebook: Syrian Torture Leads to Lingering Fears” that when compared to those in Flight from Syria reveal a disturbing trend. He relays the torture experienced by “Ahmad” who, like Dr. Ibrahim, waited until they were safely removed from their home country before sharing their stories. “His jailers blindfolded him, beat the soles of his feet with a stick and shocked him with electricity” (Johnson). The only difference in this example is that “Ahmad” suffered not for his own actions but for that of a friend who had spoken out against the Syrian government on Facebook.

            For the half of Syrian population remaining in the war-torn country, one thing is crystal clear; that is that voicing dissent against the Assad regime is extremely dangerous. The stories are only revealed once the displaced victims of torture feel relatively safe in another country. The government is using torture and incarceration to prop-up a failing administration that may be losing ground.

            It is hard to imagine that those who have suffered from severe brutality before fleeing the conflict in Syria would return. That is dependent on whether or not Assad prevails and if the newfound conditions in their host countries are thought to be preferential to the risks they might incur by repatriating.

Works Cited

Franklin, Stephen. "Starting Over: Living Somewhere Between Hope and Darkness." Fight from Syria: Refugee Stories. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 39-45. Print.

Johnson, Mark. "Reporter's Notebook: Syrian Torture Leads to Lingering Fears." Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. N.p., 29 Mar. 2016. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.