Syria turns into kidnappers’ paradise
LEBANON: Every time violence intensifies in Syria, so do abductions
of civilians, for political reasons and more often for financial gain,
activists and families of hostages say.
The plight of hundreds of people abducted over the past 18 months of
conflict has prompted a group of activists to set up a Facebook page
entitled “Missing” where pictures of men, women and children are posted
by anxious relatives. “Our sister, Taghrid Arnus, is missing, please
call this number,” reads one of the messages posted on the Internet
site.
“If you have any information on any of the missing, please send a
message to this page,” says another message.
According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
between 2,000 and 3,000 people have been kidnapped across Syria since
March 2011. “Everyone is kidnapping everybody else,” Observatory
director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP in a telephone interview.
“Pro and anti-regime forces kidnap each other, to exchange prisoners
or demand money, while there’s also bands of criminals who just want to
extort the families of the victims for ransom,” he says.
“Life has become very cheap in Syria.” Abu Ahmad, 66, was kidnapped
one night in mid-August while he was on his way home from work in
Damascus.
“He has a good job,” his son Ahmad told AFP. “That’s why they went
after him.
“We received a phone call. A man from the Popular Committees demanded
$75,000 for baba,” said Ahmad, referring to pro-regime militias that
have been created to defend districts against rebels. AFP |