Refugee since 2014 in Jordan after two long stays in Syrian jails, Hasna Al-Hariri, 58, is a figure of the Syrian revolution. The long story she gave to the World, in 2017, on the atrocities committed in the prisons of the Damascus regime, in particular the rapes, an immensely taboo subject, earned her to be particularly hated in pro-Assad circles. In early April, information about his next deportation to Syria had aroused strong emotion among opponents and a strong mobilization on social networks. The Hashemite kingdom had denied any intention in this direction, while asking the fifty-something to suspend her “Illegal activities”. But on Tuesday, May 4, Hasna Al-Hariri was arrested by Jordanian police and taken to Azraq refugee camp, 80 km north of Amman. She fears that this transfer is the prelude to her deportation to Syria. We were able to reach her by phone on the evening of May 4.
What explains your sudden arrest?
Ultra-strong pressure from the Syrian regime, which takes advantage of a renewed complicity with the Jordanian government to formulate its demands. On my release from a Syrian prison in 2014, thanks to a prisoner exchange, I discovered the death of thirteen people from my family, including my husband, three sons and my sons-in-law. My relatives were scattered, but I found refuge in Jordan. At the end of 2018, I was contacted by the secret services of this country warning me that the Syrian regime was asking for my transfer to Syria. “It’s just to warn you”, I was told. I then felt protected in Jordan by international law. At the beginning of April 2021, I was summoned by these same services: “The Syrians are calling for you again with insistence. You are given fourteen days to leave Jordan. ” I was stunned. But the Syrian regime has confirmed that it has officially asked Jordan for forty Syrian refugees to be delivered to it, including me and Hamza Al-Salkhadi, my revolutionary comrade who is also experiencing the same fate as me.
What did you do with this Jordanian ultimatum?
I first protested: it is against refugee law! And then, where to go, without money, without passport, without visa? For any answer, I only got one relentless: “We give you fourteen days. ” At the end of this time, they showed up at my place: “If you don’t get out, we’ll drive you back to the border and hand you over to the Syrian regime. “ I panicked, contacted the whole world and ended up having a detailed interview with the High Commissioner for Refugees which mentioned asylum in three possible countries: Germany, Norway or Sweden. I preferred Germany but the process did not have time to succeed: I was arrested and taken with my son, my daughter-in-law and their young children to this huge camp in the middle of the desert. The furnace is such in the reception hut, full of insects, that we are going to spend the night outside.
You have 32.31% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.