Abdullah al-Yabroudi reveals the ordeal of detention in his book 'Spring Rails'

Syrian writer Abdullah al-Yabroudi published his book 'Spring Rails' in 2020 through Dar al-Arabiya lil-Ilm Publishers in Beirut, documenting a political detention experience that lasted nearly three years, during which he was transferred between various prisons and security branches. Al-Yabroudi describes in the book that 'death was a more merciful option than our existence in detention centers,' shedding light on a part of the experience where detention transformed from an individual ordeal into a window onto the fates of people who disappeared behind walls.

The detention journey began with the launch of the Syrian revolution in 2011, when al-Yabroudi participated with people from his region in a demonstration in Daraa to lift the siege upon it, only to be captured after a harsh confrontation. The narrative moves between multiple security branches, from Air Force Intelligence in Damascus to Saydnaya Prison, then to a civil prison, where he documented details of sleep and food deprivation, beatings, and insults, reaching methods of torture targeting the body and soul, and reducing the prisoner to a number that strips him of his dignity.

For his part, Syrian writer and novelist Ibrahim al-Yousef believes that the work is immersed in realism thanks to the density of details and the citation of dates and numbers, which enhances its documentary value, but it sometimes comes at the expense of the literary and artistic aspect. He pointed out that the narrative remains close to the author's observations and experiences, with the possibility of expanding the experience beyond the limits of individual testimony.

He added that the end of detention does not mean the end of suffering, as memory remains burdened with pain and fear, and the need to narrate what happened remains to prevent its erasure. Al-Yabroudi left the country with his family to Germany after his release from prison, relying in his book, which consists of 311 pages, on his memory to shed light on the fates of prisoners who lived in conditions that made knowing their fate extremely difficult.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)