Bashar al-Assad fell – then a woman learned about her husband’s past

“As long as you say ‘I didn’t do it,’ they will continue to torture you and take you to another stage of torture,” he says.

“You’re dying every minute.”

Abdullah says he lied to officers to avoid further questioning and was “lucky” to be released from prison after a month.

A few years later, he left Syria and later received fellowships in Geneva and the United States. Now he and his wife have settled in London.

Abdullah is only now able to share all the horrors of what he has experienced with his wife, as the risk and fear he faces slowly disappear.

“We are finally done with the regime (red) and we can say that we are truly free now,” he said.

“You can use our name. You can use our face. We can tell the whole story.”

Dawn, a human rights activist, sobbed when she heard for the first time what her husband had been through.

“I heard it and cried. Every time I feel that this regime has reached the maximum of horrors and terrible stories.”

“I wonder if no, it’s not the maximum. It could be more.”

He adds: “We are privileged to be able to tell our stories. Many people have died without being heard.”