From Syria to Sweden (and possibly back again)

Opinion



By Connie Agius 
Updated about an hour ago


The scene of an explosion at Aleppo University in January 2013.
Photo: The scene of an explosion at Aleppo University in January 2013. (AFP: SANA)

After leaving his Syrian home town which had become a scene of war, and escaping imprisonment by Islamic State, Abo Taim finally made it to Sweden. But now he says he may have to go back, writes Connie Agius.

A fighter jet flew over the university. It left two large holes in the ground after dropping bombs on the students below.

"So many body parts, so much blood, amputated arms," he said through a translator. "There were cars that were completely burned with people inside them. Notebooks on the ground with pens and pencils and all the things that students use."

That was the scene at Aleppo University in January 2013. Syrian Government forces launched an attack on the facility that killed around 80 people and wounded more than 150 others.

A student who called himself Abo Taim described the scene to ABC Radio's PM program:


Civilian cars took the wounded people to a nearby hospital. There were tens of bodies there, but they were so hard to identify because they were almost completely burned.

Abo Taim decided to stay in Aleppo after the attack:


Life was difficult. The cost of living was high  -  fuel, food, medicine. There was little electricity and no safety. They were always bombing. Cluster bombs, explosive barrels, scud missiles. It was horror.

Life in Aleppo was not always this hard. It is the largest city in Syria and was considered the industrial capital of the nation before fighting broke out in 2012. The Old City of Aleppo is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, with its ancient walls and quarters, mysterious narrow alleys, bustling marketplaces and covered souqs. It now lies in ruins after almost five years of war.

Abo Taim did not want his home town to be torn apart. He wanted a revolution and an end to president Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship:


We kept peacefully protesting. There was a campaign of arrests against students by Assad's forces and militia. Aleppo was divided.

That division brought risk to Abo Taim and his family. They decided it was time to leave.

His family went to Idlib, and he went to Turkey where he felt he could safely continue to fight for democracy in Syria. Opposition fighters drove him to a hospital close to the border. He stayed for a day and moved to his new home under the cover of night.

Turkey was not the safe haven he imagined:


They exploit Syrians. The house, for example, was 300 pounds. It became 1,000 pounds with the wave of displaced people. Some Turkish men want to marry Syrians girls. It's the same in Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan.

They exploit the parents and marry their daughters. They also take advantage of Syrian workers. They're made to work more than 10 hours per day for 1,000 pounds a month, some times less, in restaurants, factories and agriculture.

Syria was even more dangerous with the government dropping more bombs from the helicopters and fighter jets; heavy on-the-ground fighting and the so-called Islamic State or IS had moved in. Despite the danger, Abo Taim would cross the Turkish border every month to see his family.

That went badly in December 2013:


I was stopped at a checkpoint. They told me to get out of the car, took my bag with my laptop, mobile camera, passport, money, and they put me in the trunk. It was ISIS.

Abo Taim was thrown into a small, cold and bare prison cell with around 40 people, including children and elders. They sat shoulder-to-shoulder and chained. The facility was clean but the stench of body odour lingered in the air: "I stayed there, without charge, and the smell was awful. They didn't beat me at first." That changed on the third day.

Three men took Abo Taim into a room located in the same building. They wanted him to admit that he did not believe in Islam:


They hit me with their hands, feet and chairs. They whipped me across my back and my feet. I still have pain from the beatings.

They tortured him for up to four hours:


They said I was an infidel and the penalty was death. My body was weak. I couldn't bear it anymore. I just admitted to it. I couldn't think about anything. I knew death was waiting for me.

The men recorded his confession, but ran out of the room when gunfire suddenly broke out:


There were clashes outside. I thought about escaping, but I was afraid. I knew I would die if I stayed.

Abo Taim ran out of the room, through the building and to the safety of a near house. He banged on the door in the hope someone was home, and it was not a person connected to IS. A young man slowly opened and agreed to help. He took Abo Taim to Turkey on his motorcycle.

Abo Taim stayed in Turkey after his ordeal with IS. Time dragged on. He had no work; he could no longer study, he had no money and he had run out of options. He wanted a fresh start away from the hopelessness in Turkey and the danger that lurked in Syria. He was introduced to a smuggler after he decided it was time to find a new life in Europe.

He handed over $6,000 in cash on September 15, 2014:


I went from Turkey to Greece by boat. I travelled to Macedonia, through Serbia to Hungary. I moved through Germany, Denmark and I finally made it to Sweden on December 12.

The smugglers did not mistreat the refugees, but Abo Taim did not like dealing with them:


It w

He must have had some decent money. I wish I could hand over $6,000. He picked the best of the best countries to seek refuge in???? ;) ;) ;)

When refugees can't find work and live on welfare the righties demand they go back to where they came..

when refugee who can't find work considers going back to where he came - rather than leech off the system - its "CONNED CONNED CONNED"

double plus good wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2015 at 11:06am:

He must have had some decent money. I wish I could hand over $6,000. He picked the best of the best countries to seek refuge in???? ;) ;) ;)

Tom1:

02 Nov 2015 10:02:45am

Too much religion Yank. One would have thought it actually came to a head centuries ago with the Crusades. Two different cultures fighting it out, but no clear winner. Then different sects, and divisions within religions, all of course right in their deluded understanding of things, to a point that religion was more important than life itself.

One thing of course makes it worse, religious despots.

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Asininedrivel:

02 Nov 2015 11:53:33am

The Assad Regime in Syria is secular, and has received (resigned) praise for its protection of religious minorities.

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mick:

02 Nov 2015 10:19:52am

whats the matter with these young people, why don't they stay , get trained and defend their homeland. No, they just walk out and leave the invaders to take over. The Syrian army needs smart new recruits to help mobilise and defend against ISIS. Where is national service in Syria ??

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saline:

02 Nov 2015 11:38:13am

You've raised a point which should be expanded.

"... why don't they stay, (in their own country)?"

If they must go because their studies are interrupted so badly, why don't they seek a ni contract for their education in return for the guarantee thet they will immediately return to thehome country.

I see sense in this arrangement.

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Tabanus:

02 Nov 2015 10:20:12am

Dear the yank

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember you being quite upset when one of the petty dictators was removed from power.

Good to see that you have accepted that the evidence cannot be ignored and that the bulk of those entering Europe are economic migrants. Though I don't know where you got the bit about starving: I have not heard that before.

But I agree: I can't see any good coming out of this. Europe's economy wrecked, its society disrupted for generations at least. And of course no improvement in the ME: its occupants determined to continue in their current manner, refusing to adopt the lifestyle they envy so much in the West.

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Moi:

02 Nov 2015 11:19:56am

What a mess. A mess that has been brewing since neocons came to power in the US. So many lives lost and for what? So petty US presidents can impose their will over other nations.

Then you have other rich nations like the Saudis, Wahabi Sunnis, who believe they have the right to determine who gets to rule neighbouring countries. So in outright contravention of the UN Charter they recruit and fund extremists, call them "rebels", and send them into Syria to do their worst.

FYI yank, there are 100 million Shiites living in an arc from Iran through Iraq and Syria into Lebanon. There are only 40 million Sunnis in that area yet they form a slight majority in Syria. This is the excuse for the constant destabilisation by Sunni nations. There is _no_ excuse for the CIA to have pumped $25 billion into helping them.


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Old_Wombat:

02 Nov 2015 11:20:25am

The middle easterns, especially the Jews, think they are great negotiatiors. Thousands of years ago, Lot negotiated with God himself - and with success. Yet they can't seem to negotiate peace with their neighbours, seeminglhy prefering thousands of years of war. It must be just multi-thousand year old spin.

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saline:

02 Nov 2015 11:33:12am

If this is how the masses are treated, why doesn't people power overcome the tyrants?

There must be a lot of support for the current regime.

Has the number of economic emigrants had an effect on the mass of the opposition?

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John:

02 Nov 2015 11:38:42am

The problem is not the dictators themselves, they are simply a symptom of the underlying problem- the system (religion, culture) that is conducive to the development of what we are seeing.

All the fleeing people may very well be innocent and need help, however in general they are ignorant of the fact that it is their very belief system that causes this problem. They then move to other countries and continue their ways and culture, progressively causing the very problems again that they were fleeing in the first place.

Show me where this HASN'T or isn't happening!

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Jas:

02 Nov 2015 9:35:58am

Has anyone asked why these people gravitate to the west? After all Dubai and the rich Arab states are much closer. The west needs to know this is not politics, its religion and Saudi Arabia is fuelling this conflict as it did previous ones, just like the American Catholics fuelled the Northern Ireland sectarian war with guns and explosives. We should take the ideological blinkers off and look at the whole picture in the eyes of middle age religious war being fought with 21st century weapons. Muslims of all convictions need to take a good look at what they are doing to each other.

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Obob:

02 Nov 2015 10:48:23am

The aim of ISIS it to re-establish the Arab Golden Age with its outdated religious goals. It's not so difficult to fathom. How many people have you heard lemanting the passing of the good old days in any culture. They want them back along with the conveniences of the modern age. What they don't want to see is that you can't have yesterday with today

The issue I have with Muslim immigration is that it isn't the 1st generation that we need worry about. It's their kids.  It bothers me what the future holds for countries with significant Muslim immigration.

How is this politics, parties and politicians?

Should it be moved into a more suitable section.

double plus good wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2015 at 11:19am:

The issue I have with Muslim immigration is that it isn't the 1st generation that we need worry about. It's their kids.  It bothers me what the future holds for countries with significant Muslim immigration.

This (see link below) is what worries me. Muslims proclaiming they don't need to adopt our way of life or sing our national anthem. They want to exist entirely separate from our culture and values. That's a recipe for disaster and if one wants proof of this, they need only look at parts of Paris that even the Police won't go in to anymore. The only way for immigration to work successfully is for migrants to adopt our way of life in full. That doesn't mean giving up their family's cultural traditions, it just means becoming part of our society rather than living outside of it.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/singing-the-national-anthem-is-forced-assimilation-says-hizb-ut-tahrir-spokesman-uthman-badar/story-fni0cx12-1227590118545

Armchair_Politician wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2015 at 11:46am:

double plus good wrote on Nov 2nd, 2015 at 11:19am: The issue I have with Muslim immigration is that it isn't the 1st generation that we need worry about. It's their kids.  It bothers me what the future holds for countries with significant Muslim immigration. This (see link below) is what worries me. Muslims proclaiming they don't need to adopt our way of life or sing our national anthem. They want to exist entirely separate from our culture and values. That's a recipe for disaster and if one wants proof of this, they need only look at parts of Paris that even the Police won't go in to anymore. The only way for immigration to work successfully is for migrants to adopt our way of life in full. That doesn't mean giving up their family's cultural traditions, it just means becoming part of our society rather than living outside of it. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/singing-the-national-anthem-is-forced-assimilation-says-hizb-ut-tahrir-spokesman-uthman-badar/story-fni0cx12-1227590118545

They posted pieces of this lecture on the mainstream channels here in Sydney the other day. It's very alarming. I've seen that scumbags face before. He's a bad hate creator. He needs to be watched very carefully.

double plus good wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2015 at 11:55am:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Nov 2nd, 2015 at 11:46am: double plus good wrote on Nov 2nd, 2015 at 11:19am: The issue I have with Muslim immigration is that it isn't the 1st generation that we need worry about. It's their kids.  It bothers me what the future holds for countries with significant Muslim immigration. This (see link below) is what worries me. Muslims proclaiming they don't need to adopt our way of life or sing our national anthem. They want to exist entirely separate from our culture and values. That's a recipe for disaster and if one wants proof of this, they need only look at parts of Paris that even the Police won't go in to anymore. The only way for immigration to work successfully is for migrants to adopt our way of life in full. That doesn't mean giving up their family's cultural traditions, it just means becoming part of our society rather than living outside of it. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/singing-the-national-anthem-is-forced-assimilation-says-hizb-ut-tahrir-spokesman-uthman-badar/story-fni0cx12-1227590118545 They posted pieces of this lecture on the mainstream channels here in Sydney the other day. It's very alarming. I've seen that scumbags face before. He's a bad hate creator. He needs to be watched very carefully.

He needs the shyte kicked out of him and then sent to the nearest muslim dump of a country that will have him. Thats the Aussie way.

Are right wingers here seriously saying that people from Aleppo are not serious refugees?

What!?

Barrel bombs are being dropped on that city on a near daily basis punishing those living in it for siding with the FSA. ISIS is marching on the city and with the collapse of the FSA the city looks to become a battleground between ISIS, the YPG and the Loyalists. Its probably among the single most dangerous places on the planet.

The fact that someone wants to go back to Aleppo and help, doesn't mean that refugees are fake.

What is wrong with your brains seriously? Stop and think.

Kiron22 wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2015 at 12:43pm:

Are right wingers here seriously saying that people from Aleppo are not serious refugees? What!? Barrel bombs are being dropped on that city on a near daily basis punishing those living in it for siding with the FSA. ISIS is marching on the city and with the collapse of the FSA the city looks to become a battleground between ISIS, the YPG and the Loyalists. Its probably among the single most dangerous places on the planet. The fact that someone wants to go back to Aleppo and help, doesn't mean that refugees are fake. What is wrong with your brains seriously? Stop and think.

Missing since birth, is my guess.

Anencephaly isn't generally common, but seems to afflict most neo-cons.

polite_gandalf wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2015 at 11:09am:

When refugees can't find work and live on welfare the righties demand they go back to where they came.. when refugee who can't find work considers going back to where he came - rather than leech off the system - its "CONNED CONNED CONNED"

If they cant work we should never have taken them in the first place. We dont need bludgers here.