In Syria, fourteen years after the start of the revolution which led to the fall of Bashar al-Assad, residents of Daraa, the cradle of the uprising, are rediscovering a taste of freedom. Among them is Qusay Sayasna, who was barely ten years old when he took part in the first protests. Arrested, beaten, tortured, he testifies today from the square of the Omari mosque, symbol of this revolution.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Daraa, Mohamed Errami
Qusay Sayasna, 20, wanders in the square of the Omari mosque, in the center of the governorate of Deraain the south of Syriatrying to collect photos from the moments of the first Syrian revolution fourteen years ago, demanding freedom, which today managed to overthrow the president, Bashar al-Assad.
“ I am one of the children from Daraa who participated in the 2011 revolution, says Qusay Sayasna. I was arrested, beaten and tortured, but I continued to participate in the revolution until the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Here I am today in Deraa, walking on the square of the Omari mosque, but this time, I taste the flavor of freedom, this freedom of which Bashar al-Assad deprived us. This freedom came after the massacres and destruction at the hands of Bashar al-Assad, but in the end we got the freedom we demanded fourteen years ago. »
Residents tortured, beaten and imprisoned
Standing in the same place he was when he was ten years old, Qusay recounts how the army and police killed dozens of people in his town, simply because they were demanding freedom: “ I will never forget that we were tortured and beaten many times. They used a stick with iron nails. Every person who came out and said that God was great or that the people wanted to overthrow the regime was met with live bullets. I went straight to prison. I am very happy that we got rid of the Bashar al-Assad regime. »
Since 2011 and the start of the Syrian revolution and the armed conflicts that followed, more than eight million Syrians have been displaced from their country.
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