On March 11, 2013, hordes of military security personnel raided the home of Dr. Rania Al-Abbasi, a Syrian chess champion, and arrested her and her six children. This happened to be the home of Majdoleen Al-Qadi, a young woman who worked as a secretary in Dr. Rania's clinic. Her fate, like that of hundreds of thousands of detainees in the prisons of the former regime, remains unknown.
In a story of endless pain, instead of posting a picture of herself on her profile, Majdoleen posted a mourning sign for Damascus on her Facebook page, which has been closed since the day of her arrest. She commented, "Because Syrian blood is precious... May God release you, my sister."
In her profile picture, she also wrote, "My homeland is a story of endless sadness and pain." She ended up behind the sun in the dungeons of the former regime, for no crime, and her fate remains unknown. Her mother died of grief and sorrow after years of waiting in vain.
Hassan Al-Abbasi, Rania Al-Abbasi's brother, who lives in Canada, commented in a post on his Facebook account: "Whenever we spoke to Majdoleen's mother to find out any news about her, her voice would falter and her tears would choke her. Majdoleen's mother would cry over her loss of insight."
Al-Abbasi added in his post: "Sadly, her mother passed away a few years ago, grieving the loss and pain of not knowing where her daughter was after she was arrested by the regime."
He added: "Majdoleen is now in her late thirties." If she is still alive, this means that she has spent half her life in Assad's prisons.
The name "Majdolin Fares Al-Qadi" was mentioned in a document issued by the General Intelligence Directorate's Investigation Branch in 2013, as part of a detailed list of detainees at the aforementioned branch, along with "Amal Abdel Rahman Eid" and "Hanan Abdel Rahman Eid."
Her cousin recounts:
Zaman al-Wasl contacted "Lujain," the young man's cousin, whose fate is unknown. She indicated that Majdolin is a resident of the Dummar project in Damascus. She was born in 1986 and studied at a teacher training institute in Damascus. She worked as a teacher in a kindergarten. Before her arrest, she worked as a secretary at Dr. Rania al-Abbasi's clinic.
The source added: "After her arrest, Majdolin's family tried to find out where she was being held. One of her relatives, a member of the People's Assembly, even contacted the deposed president, Bashar al-Assad, to no avail. After the fall of the regime and the release of all detainees, but not her, we lost hope of her survival, like her friend, Dr. Rania. Al-Abbasi and her six children.
Her mother died of grief.
Our interviewee revealed that her aunt, Majdoleen's mother, died a year after her arrest. She was diagnosed with cancer and underwent a lump removal operation. In April 2018, she died of grief over her daughter, without being able to see her or visit her in detention.
Lujain recounted that her cousin went to Dr. Rania Al-Abbasi to console her after the arrest of her husband, Abdul Rahman Yassin, who had been arrested two days earlier. She wanted to sleep with her so she wouldn't be left alone. A quarter of an hour later, intelligence agents raided the house and arrested her, Dr. Rania, and her six children. They pushed her mother to the floor and smashed the house cameras to prevent them from recording their actions.
One of these agents was known to Dr. Rania Al-Abbasi, named Abu Kazem. He was a member of a military checkpoint near her home and was receiving treatment "free of charge" at the dental clinic Al-Abbasi owned. Fares Al-Rifai - Zaman Al-Wasl
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