Category talk:Prisoners

Prisoners of Interest

Kholani Brothers

• Majd al-Din al-Kholan: Amnesty International: "Majd al-Din al-Kholani, 25, is one of those detainees. He has been held incommunicado since he was arrested in Daraya, a city south-west of Damascus, in 2011 when he gave Syrian soldiers water bottles with flowers to oppose the use of force against demonstrators."

Perhaps they haven't followed all possible leads. They checked with security forces I'm guessing and got a denial, which they took as confirmation. Or they would have, if ... But there's little sense to that kind of detention, by any party really. Alternate scenario: two "demonstrators" who observed this pansy action decided it would look bad if Assad killed the flower man. So they arrested the guy. But after looking at the mangled mess they made of his body, and the pills wore off, they felt nervous putting up the video and just dumped him somewhere good and claimed he was arrested. In that case, he'll be held forever, as incommunicado as can be, even after all the war and after all prisoners are freed. --Caustic Logic (talk) 00:16, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

• Abdulsattar al-Kholani: An Amnesty report from the time of Majd's arrest gave these details:

On 22 July individuals believed to be members of Air Force Intelligence arrested Islam al-Dabbas, his cousin ‘Alaa al-Dabbas, aged 24, and ‘Abd al-Sattar al-Kholani', aged 32. According to activists from Daraya, Islam and ‘Alaa al-Dabbas were arrested during a protest. ‘Abd al-Sattar al-Kholani was arrested apparently because he refused to inform Air Force Intelligence where his brother Majd al-Din al-Kholani, aged 22, another protest organizer in Daraya, was hiding. Majd al-Din al-Kholani was arrested on 8 August, also, it seems, by Air Force Intelligence.

The authorities have not revealed the men’s whereabouts and the families of the five men have been too afraid to ask the authorities for information. Recently released detainees, however, said that all of them, except for Khairo al-Dabbas, are being held in the Air Force Intelligence branch in Mezza, an area of Damascus, and that Islam al-Dabbas, ‘Alaa al-Dabbas and Majd al-Din al-Kholani had been severely beaten. They believe Khairo al-Dabbas was recently transferred to another detention centre in Damascus. Amnesty International is concerned that all five men may be prisoners of conscience detained solely for legitimately exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly or because of their family relationship with protesters.

The Dabbas guys I'll skip for now. "Protest organizers" is sometimes a euphemism for arms smugglers and terrorists. Kholani gets transliterated different ways but in Arabic = خولاني. That yields 124 of this name listed as detained in the VDC database. (they have to be translated back one-by-one, after opening, by switching /ar in the address bar to /en). This shows not just Abdulsatar was taken in then, but a total of four men of the same name. Mohamed Nabil Kholani, Adnan Salim Kholani< and Mohamed Khair Kholani. The other three were released on August 23, September 23, and November 1, with only this one remaining locked up (release date: blank). Age 31, Married and has 2 children. Occupation: Freelancer. Notes: "He was detained with his car. He was detained while trying to save Islam Al-Dabbaas from detention. He was seen in Air Force Intelligence - Air commander in 23-04-2012. he was seen in 9-2013 in Seidnayah prison"

The brother more worth mentioning in 2014 is listed too: Majd Al-Deen Abdulfattah Khoulani University student: Faculty of Law, Activist. Detention Date: 2011-08-08 Release Date 000-00-00. Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/pages/الحرية-للحر-مجد-خولاني/231779706858180. The Arabic list shows he too was taken in the same day as relatives, two Kholani men who were released the same day. In both cases, it would be important to know the order of alleged arrests. The last two sound like no more than questioning, possibly in connection with Majd's disappearance earlier in the day.

Interestingly, in all-time search, the August 8 arrests are almost the last in the entire 3 year conflict. Only one more Kholani was arrested August 27 and released September 9, and the family stayed out of trouble for the 28 months since then. This makes me want to check if "Shabiha" turned to slaughtering them instead. A bit, it seems. 41 martrs from 2011-4-22 (allegedly defected soldier, Daraya) to 2013-7-10 (another rebel). 11 were killed in late August, 2012, the span of the Daraya massacre, all listed as civilian. 11 more died in two spurts in November and December and then after 2012, Daraya was a ghost town. Last civilian martyr May 27, 2013: a woman from the Moadamiya branch, "Martyred by the regime forces sniper's gunfire in Mouadamiyeh at Road 40."

Closest to August 2011 and what activist Kholanis then might have been doing: Before the July arrests, a 24 year-old Kholani man was shot May 22, "martyred at Sumariya checkpoint while coming back to Daraya and his body was handed over to his family on 31-5." After: on Nov. 18, a young science student, perhaps pushed too far on a project beyond his grasp, was the only one killed by an unexplained explosion this day in Daraya.

This might leave one feeling jaded, so I'll return to where I first heard of this story. All the organizing, hiding, being rebel fighters, possibly making bombs, aside, this one was only arrested "when he gave Syrian soldiers water bottles with flowers to oppose the use of force against demonstrators." And it's just that kind of thing that sets the regime off the just disappear someone whose only crime, perhaps, was rejecting violence. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:49, 29 January 2014 (UTC)