A memoir from the
political underground of Assad’s Syria and events which still resonate today.
Wajdy Mustafa was a political prisoner, kept in
appalling conditions for fourteen years without a trial. Moved between
different prisons, including the Palmyra, one of the most oppressive prisons in
the world, he faced brutality, torture and inhumane living conditions. Despite
this, he never lost his sense of conviction or his courage.
Forced by his captors to share his life story, as
they tried to get him to confess, Wajdy wrote everything down for them.
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| Levant Fever: True stories from Syria's underground by Wajdy Mustafa |
In this memoir, he recounts his life during this
time, from his earliest memories, to life with his family, before he became a
political activist. Growing up in Syria, he was drawn to Marxism, but in a
country where an alternative political view can mean a prison sentence or even
death, Wajdy soon finds himself arrested without due cause. He received no
trial or legal defence.
At a time when he should have been starting out in
his life, it was cruelly snatched away from him along with his freedom and his
human rights. Facing torture and barbaric treatment, it was his memories of
family, friends and love, which gave him the strength to keep going. His sense of
right and wrong never wavered as he worked toward his freedom.
He describes the conditions in the prisons, the
violence, the fear he and his fellow captives felt and how a person can be
reduced to little more than a number. Retaining your sanity and keeping hope
alive in this environment would be an almost impossible feat for most people,
yet Wajdy managed to do just that, showing inner strength that he never knew he
had.
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