CHEKKA, Lebanon (AP) — Suheil Hamwi spent 32 years in a Syrian prison, and now, after an offensive by insurgents that toppled the government of Bashar Assad…
Suheil Hamwi spent 32 years in a Syrian prison, and now, after an offensive by insurgents that toppled the government of Bashar Assad, he’s finally returned to his home in Lebanon.
In 1992, Hamwi worked as a merchant, selling various goods in the town of Chekka in northern Lebanon. On the night of Eid il-Burbara, or Saint Barbara’s Day — a holiday similar to Halloween — a man came to his door to buy some whiskey. Hamwi said he handed his 10-month-old son, George, to his wife and went to his car to fetch the whiskey and make the sale.
As Hamwi approached his vehicle, a car filled with men pulled up, he said, forcing him inside and taking him away.
It would be years before his family heard from him again.
Hamwi was one of hundreds of Lebanese citizens detained during Syria’s occupation of Lebanon from 1976 to 2005 and believed to be held in Syrian prisons for decades. On Sunday, freedom came to him and others unexpectedly — prisoners who’d heard rumors about Syria’s opposition forces and their sweeping campaign found that guards had abandoned their posts. Hamwi and other prisoners left, he said, and he would soon be among the first from Lebanon to reenter the country.
“I’m still scared this might not be real,” he told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday from his home — the same one he left more than three decades ago.
This new reality feels fragile, but, he said, “I found my freedom.”
For years after the night of his disappearance, Hamwi’s family didn’t know where he was. It wasn’t until 16 years later that his wife discovered he was imprisoned in Syria.
