Account of the Disappeared Fadi Khaled al-Fattuh by the Military Security
Fadi Khaled al-Fattuh, the disappeared, born in 1977, in Ma’arat al-Nu’man in the countryside of Idlib, used to work in the industry of “metal tanks” in addition to his work in construction. He has two wives, with four children from his first wife they are; Nadia 13, Israa 11, Khaled 9, and Mo’az 7 years old, and he has two daughters from his second wife, they are; Samah 7 and Jasmine 4 years old.
2 February 2013, according to Fadi’s wife who testified[1] to Syrians for Truth and Justice/STJ, Fadi visited one of his relatives in the Syrian Government control –Idlib at the time, but he did not return home that day. His wife phoned his relatives to inquire about him, but they denied his coming to them originally, here the journey of Fadi’s two wives began-in cooperation with their relatives- in searching for him. They first searched for him in Idlib hospitals and the armed opposition headquarters, but came to no conclusion. After that, his first wife, accompanied by his cousin, decided to go to Idlib specifically to the Military Security Branch searching for Fadi. They paid a large sum of money, more than 300,000 Syrian Pounds, equivalent to $2000 US dollars at the time, to some elements who told them that Fadi was in the Military Security Branch of Idlib and was being interrogated on charge of “inciting against the regime.”
The first wife sold all the gold she had in order to assign a lawyer to pursue her husband’s case, but she only received empty promises from the lawyer whose fees exceeded 150,000 Syrian Pounds lawyer equivalent to $1000 at the time. The family remained in this situation for a long time until they received news of Fadi’s transfer to al-Faihaa Branch in Damascus, one of the branches of the Political Security in Damascus. Therefore, the wife hurried to travel to Damascus and she had to pay 700 thousand Syrian Pounds, equivalent to $6000 US dollars at the time, to brokers to get any information about Fadi, but she could only get conflicting information. Sometimes they told her of his death and of his survival at other times, Fadi’s family has not yet learned any information revealing his fate.
Fadi’s first wife spoke in her testimony about the impact of Fadi’s absence on his family, saying:
“The absence of Fadi had a great psychological effect on the family, as his children were very attached to him, their looks always are filled with grief, and they ask me permanently where is our father, and when he will return. I had only patience and some hope of my husband’s return to us safe. I worked hard to cover even a small part of the father’s role in the house, but I always felt a lot of emptiness and loneliness because of my husband’s disappearance, despite the fact that my parents and my husband’s family stand with me and my children, but the feeling of loneliness has never left me since my husband’s absence.”
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“I paid most of the money Fadi and I had for lawyers and brokers. The sum was over a million and 500, 000 Syrian Pounds, equivalent to $10,000, without any result. Fadi was the only breadwinner of the family and after a while of his detention and because of the only breadwinner’s absence, his second wife was forced to take her children and live with her family in Lebanon, and I remember that she paid about $300 US dollars as bribes to extract a document allowing her children to cross the Syrian border in the absence of their father. As for me, I took my children and lived in my family’s house. Although my family stands with me, I worked as a servant in a school near my family’s house to help even a small part of the expenses of my children and me. I do not intend to seek divorce, or leave my family’s house nor travel outside Syria. Being in an area under the Syrian opposition control, I have not encountered any legal problems with regard to papers or documents.”
[1] The interview was conducted on 20 July 2017 via the Internet.
