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

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"

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.

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


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-...

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



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.

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


Missing since birth, is my guess.

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