Hiba Dabbagh is a Syrian university student. On the thirty first of December 1980, she was getting ready for an exam on the following morning in Damascus when her flat where she lived with some fellow students was raided by a patrol of the secret police. They asked her to go with them for five minutes only. Those five minutes cost Hiba nine years of arrest after she had been taken that night with two other female students to the Political Security branch in Damascus.

Suffering of Hiba was unlimited at the prolonged arrest (1980-1989). She also lost her father, mother and eight brothers and sisters in the collective massacres committed by the armed forces in Hama in February 1982.  Only three members of her family were rescued and they live now in exile.

In order to document what she witnessed and what she had to undergo of the cruel practices, Hiba published a book of 239 pages called “ Five minutes…. That’ all”, in which she narrated practices in the Syrian prisons that are in violation of the human rights and international laws. In the following special interview with the Syrian Human Rights Committee which took place after the publication of her book, Hiba discloses the violation that the arrested undergo in Syria. Even the minimal level of human rights as stipulated in the international declaration of human rights is not maintained.

Following is the interview:

What are the circumstances of your arrest in 1980. Was this done upon a judicial warranty of arrest?

-         When I was arrested, violence was on its peak. Clashes between the armed forces, the state’s security forces and the Islamic opponents had become almost a daily event. The security corpses who built barriers inside cities and in front of universities used to implement random check points especially among students and young people. My older brother had to leave our house in Hama after he was accused of joining “The Muslim Brothers’ Society”. This meant that he would be executed according to Law 49. This did not make me take any step as I have nothing to do with any political organization and I did not have any relation with any of the events going on in the Syrian cities. The night I was arrested (31.12.1980) I was getting ready for the first year exam at the University. Late at nigh, my colleagues and I heard unusual sounds that we found out later on that they were those of military vehicles with tens of secret police intelligence elements who plunged into the apartment and searched it without any judicial warranty. One of the officers asked me to accompany them for five minutes. Thus, I stayed for nine years at prison.

Did you undergo torture during your arrest and interrogation? Did you witness torture of other arrested ladies?

-         Right from the first minutes of my arrest, I was targeted by unusual attack by the secret intellegence officers who used swear words against me. They accused me with several things in a manner to have me collapsed and admit their alleged accusations which had nothing to do with facts. Physical torture was really unbearable. I was beaten with bamboo rods on my feet, face and all over my body. I received electric shocks which made me go into a coma. During the period of interrogation with me, I saw other ladies who were beaten and made nude and hung by the feet in the ceiling. Some of the arrested ladies were sexually assaulted. In other cases, the tongue of one of the arrested ladies was cut with scissors. Another one was  injured in the ear and her nose was broken. One of the arrested ladies told us that her husband was shot dead at home, then his body  was smashed after being tied to a tanker. Severe torture made one of the arrested ladies attempt suicide using some glass pieces that she found in her cell. Another one took a poisonous pill to escape torture and she passed away.

-         The arrested men, however, faced torture that I cannot describe. We saw one of them getting paralyzed due to beating and electric shocks. Another arrested  man went insane due to torture. It was usual to see detainees suffering from one or more diseases without receiving any treatment.

Do you understand here that torture used to coincide with no provision of basic needs including the medical ones?

-         This was really the case. If a human loses basic freedoms and rights were violated, talking of other needs will be in vain. Part of the torture we had was to prevent us from going to the public utilities unless upon a special permit by the prison guard. This coincides with beating the detainee. Food given to us did not fulfill even the minimal health measures. Its quantity was only to keep us alive and not to get full. In many cases, the prison administration used to give us decayed food to make us ill. In that cases, there  was no treatment as the so-called “Doctor of the Prison” was usually a cruel person who’s got the behavior of a flogger rather than a  doctor. In most cases, he refused to give medicine. In serious cases, he used to give an analgesic to the detainee while describing her as a criminal.

Did this include female political detainees even after the interrogation is over?

-         In fact, we were not politically arrested in the real sense of the word. None of the arrested ladies was a member of a political organization. We all were arrested as hostages so that our brothers and husbands would surrender to the authorities. None of us had accurate information about the whereabouts of her brother or husband. Chasing was done extensively at that time. This is just to explain your question.

-         However, the cruel procedures included all of us with no exception. The thing which is most painful and severe is to see some pregnant ladies in  prison. Mrs. Muti’a was a mother for four children. When she was arrested, she was in her last days of pregnancy. The cruel manner in which she was arrested made her deliver her baby a few hours after arrest. When she asked the prison administration to help her, they refused. She could lose her life due to that delivery. Aisha K was arrested in her  seventh month of pregnancy. However, she was severely tortured and had to deliver her baby in the same dormitory we were in at Qatna prison. She did not get any medical attendance. Salwa H was arrested along with her mother and sister in Tadmur (Palmyra) prison while she was pregnant. When she delivered her baby in the prison, the other lady detainees cut off the umbilical cord with a piece of tin. As mothers did not  have any attendance during labor and delivery, you can imagine the condition of their infants. Most of them were in very bad health conditions.

During your arrest, did you meet representatives from the Red Cross, or other international human rights organizations?

-         I did not meet any of these. This was impossible in fact as the authorities black out the news of arrests. Even families of the arrested did not know where their children were. Most of them even did not know if their children were still alive or not. Thus, I think that the authorities did not permit any legal body to intervene to know our conditions.

In one of your book’s chapters, you mentioned that the prison doctor gave you injections to become infertile. Can you explain this?

-         When I was in  Qatna prison I was severly ill. I asked to see the prison’s doctor. He was known for his ill manners. When I explained to him my case he gave me injections that I didn’t know their content. Once, a doctor visited his sister in the prison. When he knew about my case, he asked to review the medicine given by the prison’s doctor. The surprise was when he told me that these injections cause infertility to women and are irrelevant to my case. I immediately stopped using them.

How do you describe the moment of your set release? What does it mean to you that you had spent nine years behind bars?

-         It was really very impressive moment. I didn’t imagine it. The years of arrest were so hard and caused bad  psychological impacts on me. It was the first time that I saw people practising this amount of cruelty against the others. I had to spend further years with nightmares on my arrest. However, I’m starting my life again trying to forget the past in favour of a cheerful future with hope. In the same time, I don’t forget my duty towards the other detainees in prisons everywhere with grief. Therefore, I published my book as a call for the public opinion to move to end up the suffering of the arrested not only in Syria but  also everywhere in the world. I’m still largely interested in human rights as I now consider my work to this cause as part of my human duty.

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