“As long as you say, ‘I didn’t do that,’ they will continue to torture you and take you to another stage of torture,” he says.
“It’s like you’re dying every minute.”
Abdullah says he told officers a false story to avoid further questioning and was “lucky” to be released from custody a month later.
A year later, he left Syria and later received scholarships in Geneva and the United States. Now he lives in London with his wife.
Only now does Abdullah feel able to share the full horror of his experience with his wife, as the risk and fear he faced slowly fades away.
“We have finally finished with the regime, we can say that we are really free now,” he says.
“You can use our name. You can use our face. We can tell the full story.”
Human rights activist Dawn sobbed, hearing for the first time what her husband had experienced.
“I listened to him and cried. Every time I feel that this regime has (reached) the maximum of horrors, terrible stories,” she says.
“I’m surprised that no, it’s not the maximum. There may be more.”
She adds, “We are honored to be able to tell our stories. Many people died without hearing.”
