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    Bassel: Behind the Screens of the Syrian Resistance
    Bassel: Behind the Screens of the Syrian Resistance
    Bassel: Behind the Screens of the Syrian Resistance
    Ebook55 pages41 minutes

    Bassel: Behind the Screens of the Syrian Resistance

    By Monique Doppert

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    About this ebook

    When the wave of revolutions known as the Arab Spring reaches Syria, Bassel is a successful Internet entrepreneur. He works for international companies, makes lots of money, and parties deep into the night with friends from the Syrian art and film worlds.

    But when a BBC reporter asks him to make videos of the Syrian rebellion and smuggle them out of the country, life changes dramatically for Bassel. He directs an army of volunteers armed only with their cell phones who record the Syrian revolution and spread the news via social media.

    Bassel secretly enjoys his resistance work. He forms friendships for life, parties like there’s no tomorrow, and meets the woman of his dreams. But the battle toughens. Friends flee, are arrested or get killed. Remarkably, for a long time, Bassel himself escapes unscathed. His friends begin to wonder: Who’s protecting him? Then, on March 15, 2012—coinciding with the first anniversary of the Syrian Revolution—Bassel’s luck runs out. He’s arrested and tortured. He remains imprisoned to this day.

    Author Monique Doppert followed Bassel closely for more than three years. Her story, Bassel: Behind the Screens of the Syrian Resistance, provides an alarming look behind the scenes of the Syrian Revolution. Meet the man who showed the world what’s happening in Syria.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFosfor
    Release dateMar 6, 2014
    ISBN9781310621055
    Bassel: Behind the Screens of the Syrian Resistance
    Author

    Monique Doppert

    Author Monique Doppert followed Bassel closely for more than three years. Her story, Bassel: Behind the Screens of the Syrian Resistance, provides an alarming look behind the scenes of the Syrian Revolution. Meet the man who showed the world what’s happening in Syria.

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      Book preview

      Bassel - Monique Doppert

      Prologue

      Bassel checks himself in the mirror once more before leaving the bathroom. His goatee is neatly trimmed, but there’s not much he can do, unfortunately, about the bags under his eyes. Noura has breakfast waiting for him on the kitchen table. Bassel silently tears himself off a piece of bread and dips it in the yogurt. He takes a gulp of coffee and lights his first cigarette.

      It’s eleven o’clock when his cell phone rings. Bassel’s wanted in the Damascus neighborhood of Mezze as soon as possible. It’s not far, but Noura can’t bear the thought of Bassel leaving again. She’s been worried for days. Bassel’s on the street a lot, scarcely sleeps, and is neglecting his health. Once again he’s hardly touched his breakfast. Besides, he promised to take her sick cat, Sissie, to the vet. The route to Mezze is dangerous, with countless checkpoints. Just this morning they heard shots in the distance.

      But Bassel waves off her objections. He disconnects his cell from the charger and promises he’ll be back soon. Noura, annoyed, reminds him that her mother is coming this afternoon to discuss the design of her wedding dress. Their wedding is just six weeks off.

      When Bassel reaches the door, Noura loses it and bursts into tears. Gently but firmly, Bassel tells her he’ll be back in time for her mother’s visit—really. He kisses Noura on her forehead, slides his new Promate headset on his neck, and walks out the door.

      That’s the last time Noura saw Bassel free. Later it turns out he was arrested at a checkpoint not far from the corner he’d been called to. There are varying theories as to how he was nabbed. One goes that he was lured to Mezze under false pretenses: the security forces had had him on their radar for a long time and set this trap for him. No, goes another, Bassel was betrayed by a friend who’d been tortured. A third is sure Bassel’s arrest was just dumb luck: the checkpoint picked him out at random, maybe on account of his flashy headset. It was only later, back at the office, that they discovered that he was high on their list of most wanted.

      That’s how it is in Damascus: the city is abuzz with half-truths, reports of isolated incidents, and rumors. One thing’s for certain: it’s Wednesday, March 15, 2012. On the day of Bassel’s arrest, the revolution is exactly one year old.

      1

      September 2010, a year and a half earlier

      It’s ten o’clock, and the day is just getting started in al-Rawda, an up-scale Damascus business district. Honking cars, buses, and taxis jostle for position in the morning traffic jam on busy al-Hamra Street. The aroma of fresh bread and croissants wafts from the coffee shops. Commuters drink their first espressos of the day in the sidewalk cafés.

      A lack of street signs and house numbers makes finding an address in Damascus a real adventure. Bassel’s short version of how to get to his office goes like so: Just past the Blue Tower Hotel, by the Italian hospital Taliani, you take a left. Then the second street on the left, and at the pizzeria make another left into the alley. Our office is in the apartment complex on your right. Ring the bell for Aikilab; sometimes it works. If the front door’s open, walk up to the fourth floor. If the door’s closed, call me; I’ll let you in.

      As usual, Bassel’s the first to arrive at

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