At least 350 female detainees awaiting an exchange deal

Reporting by Ahmad Primo; Translation by Yusra Ahmed

  (Zaman Alwasl-Special)- Journalist Rowaida Kana’an was detained in Syrian regime’s prisons for more than 10 months, before she with other 135 female detainees were assigned for exchange deal with Maloula’s Nuns in March this year, after long negotiation with Qatari mediation.

Rowaida told Zaman Alwasl her detention story, when she was stopped at a security forces' barrier where she was detained after seeing her Journalist ID, and was taken to Air force intelligence in Damascus, where she was subject for sever torture and humiliation.

“5 days later, I was taken to Mezzeh’s investigation Branch, where I was forced to open all my internet accounts and give them all conversation I have with the media centre I worked with, besides copies of receipts I used to send online to bodies looking after orphans and supporting Martyrs’ children, because I was a mediator between the supporting side and Martyrs’ families in Damascus countryside” she detailed.

Rowaida mentioned that she faced many accusations like writing report damaging the National Army and improve the picture of armed gangs, beside financing and facilitating terrorism.

The Journalist mentioned that 15-25 female detainees were with her in the cell in air forces intelligence, among them women aged over 60 years old, and Surprisingly, there were 2 infants and a female baby were detained with their mothers.

Rowaida estimated that around 60 female detainees were with her in the air forces branch in Damascus; however the number of women in terrorism section in Adra prison was much higher, as there is 5 cells for women and about 20 women in each, and numbers sometimes exceeded that limit.

“Money is the most crucial factor to determine the quality of life in the prison, where women who do not have money for many reasons, might not find a thing to eat and sleep hungry” Rowaida highlighted.

The journalist confirmed the violence and torture prisoners received, and she was surprised for a civil prison to be turned up to become a security branch.

She mentioned that numbers of female prisoners noticeably increased in the period before she was released and it reached to more than 350 one, and confirmed that regime would not release them, unless via an exchange deal. She confirmed that other cells were being prepared to accommodate new detainees.

Rowaida explained that she expected to be released via an exchange deal, but did not expect it to be with Maloula’s Nuns. She confirmed that she met them in al-Masnaa near Syrian border and they were in good health, opposite her and other detainees, when she with 22 other women and 2 young men were transferred on 10th March night to al-Masnaa area to finish the exchange deal.

Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution more than 3 years ago, more than 200 thousand women were detained, however only 1460 one were confirmed officially, where there were some concerns on their safety besides other social factors.