At the time of arrest, Abassi’s children Dima, Entisar, Najah, Alaa, Ahmed and Layan were aged 14, 13, 11, 8, 6 and 2 respectively.
“They took Rania away with her children and since that day we don’t know anything about them,” Naila said.
The family received only one piece of information about detention immediately after the arrest. They believe the family is being held in a Damascus prison known as the Palestinian branch run by Syrian intelligence.
A female inmate released in 2013 told her family that she heard children’s voices in prison two weeks after her arrest.
Now that the prisoners have been released, their families on site have been visiting the prison to look for them.
“We are watching the news, seeing people being released from prison, watching videos to see if we can see them,” Naila said.
“But the prison has been opened and I haven’t seen Rania yet. I can’t stand it.”
He added, “We have been waiting for this day for 13 years.” “But our wounds are still as fresh as if it happened yesterday.”
