During the years of the Syrian revolution, the Assad regime did not stop at taking revenge on its opponents as individuals, but also included their families and children by killing them, imprisoning them, displacing them, and erasing their identities.
In a new confirmation of the regime’s crimes, testimonies revealed to Zaman al-Wasl that the Assad regime hid the children of its opponents and changed their names, making it almost impossible to find them.
Nour al-Madani, who used to work at the “Lahn al-Hayat Complex,” confirmed that the regime used to send many children to the complex during its war on the Syrian people, stressing that the children used to say that their families were detained in the regime’s prisons.
The young man “Alaa Rajoub” also told Zaman al-Wasl that he was arrested when he was a child of 7 years old with his uncle, confirming that he was imprisoned for a whole month and was later placed in an orphanage in Damascus, indicating that they did not stop there, but changed his name to “Alaa Nassif.”
Zaman al-Wasl has seen a document issued by the regime’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor on December 4, 2017, addressed to the “Qudsiya Suburb School for Boys,” stating that the child’s name, “Alaa Rajoub,” has been changed to “Alaa Nassif,” in an attempt to obscure the child’s identity, making it difficult for his family to find him.
Video transcript
Hello
I am one of the girls of the Lahn Al Hayat complex (orphanage).
I was present and residing there until 2020. During my presence, many children came to us.
We did not know if the children were the children of detainees or just of unknown parentage. We did not look at the file or police documents that came with the child.
Some of the children were Russians. We had about ten Russian children.
But we know the story through our conversations with each other. We have a normal conversation for anyone who enters the orphanage: Where did you come from? Who are your family?
Who brought you here?
Why are you here?
Some of them used to say that my family is detained by the regime. Why are they imprisoned? It must be because they are armed. This is what we knew.
There is a case of a young man named Alaa. He will tell you his story but I really hope that when the matter is investigated and the truth is revealed, if the two people in charge of the orphanage, Nada and Lama, are left, I hope that they do not leave the orphanage, there are very young orphans who need care and protection.
Thank you very much.
My name is Alaa Rajoub,
I will try to tell you my story in brief.
I was sitting with my family, my grandfather, grandmother and mother. Suddenly a security patrol came and arrested me and my uncle. I was thrown in prison when I was only seven years old. My uncle stayed in prison and I was placed in the Zaid Orphanage, which is managed by Nada Al-Ghabra and Lama Al-Sawaf, and they took me to the police station located in the Masaken Barzeh neighborhood.
I stayed in prison with my uncle for a month, he stayed there and I was taken to the Zaid Orphanage. My mother's name is Faten Ismail and my father's name is Duraid Rajoub.
My full name is Alaa Rajoub, not Alaa Nassif. They gave me this nickname. And always on the primary school certificate they used to put my mother's and father's real name. After the ID card was issued, this was changed, even when I asked to get my official papers from the orphanage, they said you have to wait until you leave the orphanage and when it was time to sign then I would be recruited into the army.
When I asked again my request was rejected and they even took my military booklet from me. I was forced to flee Syria so as not to serve in the military with this corrupt regime.
I hope that the military operations command will follow up on my case and follow up on similar cases of me who used to live in the orphanage.
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