Detainees: Mother pursues son's fate missed in 2014

In a state accustomed to burying facts before bodies, the search for her son has turned into a battle with institutions of oppression and denial. "Since 2014, I've been unable to sleep," says the mother of Mohammed Abdo, who was arrested in the Jdeidet Artouz area, southwest of Damascus.

The family had no idea that the last moment they saw their son would be the beginning of a long hell. The mother continues, "How many times did they call us to Tishreen Military Hospital? No name, just a number. We would go broken-hearted and return even more hurt. One day, they said he had died. I asked for a name to confirm that he was my son, but the interrogator, who introduced himself as "Dhirar," told his father, "Take that crazy woman and get out, or I'll humiliate you and her!"

In the interrogation room, there was no tangible evidence. No photo, no medical report, no death certificate. Just a cold number said to be Mohammed's. "I just want a name," the mother pleaded, "but they don't want the truth for us, only humiliation."

Mohammed's crime, in the regime's eyes, was "the intent to bomb ballot boxes" during Bashar al-Assad's 2014 presidential elections, according to what his family was unofficially told. He was arrested on suspicion and taken to an unknown location, which the regime has not acknowledged to this day.

After failed attempts at military hospitals, the family went to the so-called "Terrorism Court" hoping to find an answer. There, money was a condition even for asking questions: "I paid just to submit a request to know where my son was," the mother said. But she received no answer, neither denial nor confirmation, only the state's silence and closed doors.

In 2024, after documents were leaked from Sednaya Prison and Assad's fall, the family found a yellow piece of paper bearing their son's name on a list of detainees, but without any clarification of his fate. There was no date or cause of death written on it. Only the name served as a reminder that in this country, even death does not carry an official signature.

This story is not unique; it is repeated every day in Syria. Thousands of mothers are searching for information about their sons in security departments and military hospitals, asking for nothing more than a piece of paper, a name, or even a grave after the fall of Assad.