Syrian-Canadian writer, poet and journalist Abdulrahman Matar was jailed and tortured for his dissent and political activism five times by Assad’s brutal regime and once by Gaddafi’s. Matar, who was also included on an ISIS ‘kill list’ for his support for freedom and democracy, now lives peacefully with his wife in Canada.

In an email interview with Lisa Queen published by the Newmarket Era newspaper, Matar, a native of Raqqa, recalled the harrowing price he’s paid for his lifelong support of social justice and freedom of expression.

Matar explained he’s always been rebellious, criticizing dictatorship and tyranny, which led to constant harassment by the Assad regime. He explained that he fled Raqqa in 1987 “due to harassment and persecution by the intelligence services, due to the regime’s strict control over society, which prevents the exercise of rights and freedoms, especially freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the formation of cultural, political and social associations and forums.”

From Raqqa, he fled to Libya since he didn’t need a visa to enter that country; he lived there as a refugee studying sociology, working in study centres and honing his craft as a reporter.

In Libya too, however, he faced similar persecution, with longtime allies Muammar Gaddafi and the Assads sharing a similar tyrannical intolerance for any dissent.
He survived arrest and imprisonment five times, four in Syria and once in Libya, due to his human rights activism and exposing mistreatment of prisoners, including the 1996 Abu Salim prison massacre carried out by Gaddafi’s regime, which left more than 1,200 dead. Matar spent a total of 10 years in Syrian and Libyan prisons in “very harsh” conditions, all the while terrified his family would be targeted.

He notes that his arrest in Libya was a result of co-operation between the Syrian and Libyan intelligence services.

Prisoners and detainees were tortured and humiliated on a daily basis, Matar said.
“We were deprived of everything and there was no respect for human rights. We were treated as if we were not human. The jailer did everything in his power to make the detainee humiliated and submissive, without limits.”

“There was no commitment to the laws. The conditions were hideous and terrifying and there was no health care. Rather, there was deliberate medical neglect and doctors participated in torturing the detainees. Infectious diseases were rampant, the prisons were dirty, and drugs were terrifyingly widespread. Sometimes they deprived us of drinking water in the middle of the hot summer. Or we were prevented from going to the bathroom. We urinated in our pants.”

In 2011, with the advent of the Arab Spring and the Syrian revolution bringing fresh hope, Matar returned to his hometown, Raqqa.
There, regime authorities arrested him immediately, although he was subsequently released. In March 2013, the Free Syrian Army liberated the city and the surrounding governorate from regime control.

For a few months, Raqqa governorate enjoyed real freedom for the first time in decades; this brief flowering was terribly crushed in November the same year by the advent of the terror group ISIS, with the so-called ‘Islamic State’ quickly overpowering the FSA, overrunning the region, and declaring Raqqa city the ‘capital’ and headquarters of its supposed caliphate.
Journalists and revolutionary activists were amongst its first targets, being brutally publicly executed by barbaric means including crucifixion and beheading. On learning of Matar’s writings and TV appearances, the group made it clear he too would be targeted: “I was one of the writers and journalists on ISIS’s blacklist, wanted for slaughter” he recalled.

Matar managed to escape, making it to Turkey where he lived as a refugee before getting asylum in Canada in 2015.

His distinguished journalistic career includes founding newspapers for university students as well as political newspapers in Syria, Libya and Turkey, where he also served as editor-in-chief.

As he notes, while he’s written about arts and cultural issues, it was his articles and poems on issues such as democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and international politics and conflicts that led “tyrannical” authorities to arrest and imprison him.

As one of the voices of the Syrian revolution for freedom and dignity, Matar felt it was his duty as a writer to publish writings on important issues and concerns, exposing the oppression of dictatorships, despite the dangers that assailed him.

“The dictatorial regimes, if they could prevent the air we breathe, they would do so. They want to rule by force and by weapons; they take everything from us, and do not provide us with anything,” he said.

“There is no good education and there is no sustainable development. Corruption runs all the pillars of the state. Even personal freedoms are confiscated.”

Now a Canadian citizen, Matar settled in Newmarket, a small town in Ontario, Canada where he lives with his wife Asrar Alomar, an ophthalmologist, and his stepson.

His son and daughter from a previous marriage have also built lives in exile, with his son working for a time in New York after graduating with a master’s degree from Manhattan College before moving to Newmarket to be close to his dad.

His daughter is a refugee in Stockholm, where she is married and continuing her education.

Matar’s been unable to see her for 10 years, he explains, “due to the circumstances of war and asylum, and the unfair and unjust immigration laws in Canada and other countries in the world.”

Meanwhile, his brother and family, who are refugees in Turkey, fear being deported to Syria due to Turkish policies against refugees and because Matar writes about Turkish authorities, whom he says “practise oppression and prevent freedom of expression.”

From article ‘Tortured and humiliated: Persecuted Syrian journalist jailed 10 years now at peace in Newmarket’ by Lisa Queen
Photo by Lisa Queen
The Newmarket Era, September 10, 2024
https://www.yorkregion.com/news/tortured-and-humiliated-persecuted-syria...