Now Lebanon
May 5, 2014

Out of the frying pan, into the fire
By Razan Ghazzawi

NOW talks with Yasmin Banshi a Syrian activist who went from regime prison to detention by a rebel brigade

At the beginning of the Syrian uprising in late February 2011, people took to the streets to protest the arbitrary detention and torture of schoolchildren. But today’s Syria is quite different from the Syria of 2011 or 2012. With the regime committing widespread violence across the country, human rights violations by groups claiming to be on the side of the revolutionaries are also becoming more prominent. The Jaysh al-Islam brigade that is controlling Ghouta is perceived by revolutionaries as responsible for the disappearance of Violation and Documentation Center founders and members Razan Zeitoune, Samira Khalil, Wael Hmada, and Nazem Hammadi. Blogger and revolutionary Marcel Shehwaro was recently arrested and detained for a day for refusing to wear the veil in rebel-controlled areas of Aleppo. This article follows the case of Yasmin Banshi, a 35-year-old nonviolent activist, lawyer, and media worker who was arrested on April 12 at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing by Ahrar al-Sham, a prominent Islamist brigade in northern Syria.

Regime detention, release, escape

After 10 months of imprisonment by the regime, Banshi was released on March 9 along with activist Rouaida Kanaan in what was known as the “Maaloula nuns deal.” Both women decided to escape their trials in Damascus, knowing they might end with their conviction and further imprisonment. Heading toward Turkey, they left Damascus through opposition-controlled areas. But at the Bab al-Hawa crossing, Ahrar al-Sham members arrested Banshi and her companions when they read a line in her passport granting permission to pass regime checkpoints, an indication that a wanted citizen is no longer wanted by the regime. “I honestly do think it’s their right to become suspicious of me, and it’s their right to ask questions and know the people who are passing through the area,” Banshi told NOW in a Skype interview shortly after her release.

Reasons behind the detention

The regime’s mark on Banshi’s passport was not, however, the cause of her detention by Ahrar al-Sham: it was her case file from the military security branch in Damascus, leaked onto anonymous Facebook profiles a few days after her arrest at Bab al-Hawa. The file stated her involvement in the kidnapping and killing of Amer Jouny, a citizen from Latakia who was kidnapped for a 10 million SL ransom and later killed in April 2013. Though the killers were all security forces personnel in Latakia who were arrested by the regime, Banshi was accused before the Terrorism Court in Damascus of supporting terrorist attacks in Syria and of involvement in the kidnapping and killing of Amer Jouny. She was found innocent of the latter crime, but the judge convicted her on the terrorism charges and Banshi was taken to prison.

Months later, the Ahrar al-Sham security officer and investigator in Atmeh accused Banshi of spying for the regime and again charged her with the kidnapping and killing of Amer Jouny, based on the leaked detention file.

Defamation campaigns

“The investigation was the worst part of this detention,” Banshi recalled. “The investigation was harsh, long, and exhausting. The investigator was more concerned with personal details of my life as a woman than with the case itself. I was called for investigation daily during the first week of my detention. The investigation would last for four hours and sometimes more.”

According to Banshi’s supporters, this focus on the activist’s private life was not without background. “It was surprising to us to see Yasmin’s detention file from regime branches leaked by some Ahrar al-Sham members online to discredit her as a revolutionary,” said Maysa Saleh, a prominent revolutionary, paramedic, and journalist who was among those who advocated for Banshi’s release. “The investigator, who’s originally from the same village as Banshi, launched a defamation campaign on Facebook questioning her morality as an unveiled woman from a conservative area. All those factors played a major role in minimizing solidarity to put pressure on Ahrar al-Sham to release her.”

Kanaan, Banshi’s cellmate under regime detention who was also briefly arrested at the Bab al-Hawa crossing, agreed with Saleh. “I think the fact that the victim, Amer Jouny, was a Sunni killed by an Alawite armed group played a major role in minimizing empathy and solidarity with Yasmin among some revolutionaries.”

Both Saleh and Kanaan agreed that many media outlets did not mention Banshi’s detention by Ahrar al-Sham out of fear for their correspondents as well as their relationships with the brigade.

Detention conditions

In her 13-day detention in Atmeh, with a border town close to Turkey, Banshi was put in a room by herself, with guards attending to her personal needs and sending her food daily.

“The room was comfortable, yes,” Banshi replied when asked about her detention conditions. “But it’s difficult to be alone in a room for 13 days. In the regime cells, I wasn’t alone. I was accompanied by lots of cellmates with whom I ate, cried, and exchanged my ideas and feelings most of the time. Detention under Ahrar al-Sham was too long, even though it lasted for 13 days. The detention, of course, doesn’t compare to the regime’s. After the long hours of the investigation, I used to sleep afterwards; I had nothing else to do. I also wrote some poetry for my brother, who’s currently in regime cells. I wrote my feelings about the whole experience.”

Banshi went on a hunger strike for the first five days to protest her detention. On the fifth day, her health was deteriorating, which made Ahrar al-Sham request help from two doctors from the field hospital nearby. According to Banshi, some of the Ahrar al-Sham personnel were kind to her, in their own ways. She recalled one incident when she was on hunger strike and one of the guards was worried about her. He hit her door with the butt of his rifle and called, “Sister, won’t you eat your breakfast? Or shall I come and shoot you?”

Sharia court and release

On the 13th day of her detention, Yasmin Banshi appeared before a Sharia court in Atmeh and was released based due to the absence of evidence supporting the prosecution.

“The most comforting factor in my detention was the judges, who noticed that there were no witnesses or evidence that supported the prosecution’s allegation,” Banshi said. “The judges also realized that the prosecutors’ main task was to hold me guilty no matter what by using stigma against me to destroy my reputation as a female activist.”

Banshi undertook many tasks as a peaceful revolutionary during the past three years. She helped smuggle relief into Homs, provided information about Latakia for media workers, and spied on regime agents in her village. “The judges highly respected that I was leaking information for revolutionaries, knowing it’s a critical job.”

Banshi recalled that she was invited to lunch by the judge and his family one day prior to her release. “Sharia court is much more respected by the people than regime courts. Regime release was nothing to residents of my village. But upon my release from Sharia court, my innocence was truly recognized by the people. I am from a conservative area in Latakia, so reputation is a very important element in my life, and I can notice the change of people’s treatment [of me] because of that.”

The meaning of “revolutionary”

Kanaan, Saleh, and other activists worked non-stop to promote Banshi’s case over the media to pressure Ahrar al-Sham to release her. Kanaan told NOW that she used to call the checkpoint that arrested Banshi daily to check on her, and she sometimes managed to speak directly to Banshi on the phone. “Yasmin is an activist and is known by many activists who have access to media and opposition figures [who could] put pressure on the brigade and court. Without the media pressure, her release would have taken longer. Not to mention that if she was arrested alone, no one would have known about her arrest,” Kanaan underscored.

Saleh perceives this detention as a public matter that concerns all Syrians simply because any activist could be targeted in the same way. “The defamation campaign against Yasmin was provocative to me as a woman and activist. Such treatment concerns as all Syrian women, not just Yasmin,” she said.

Saleh concluded that detention and kidnapping by armed rebel groups in opposition areas have been the main threat to activists for over a year. She maintained that she sees this policy of detaining activists as contradictory to these groups’ claim of being revolutionary: “To be a revolutionary means you have to defend and advocate for your principles and revolutionary values whenever it applies, not just against the regime, but also against anyone who violates human rights and considers himself or herself immune to people’s accountability,” Saleh said. “The question remains, are these violations justified just because those committing them oppose the regime? Is relying on Sharia law instead of [secular] jurisprudence what we want as Syrians?”

Today, Banshi is safe in Turkey, finding enjoyment in cooking and making cakes as a daily ritual. “Please mention that I support Real Madrid,” she requested at the end of the interview.