Berlin – Following her recent release from Syrian prisons, German journalist Eva-Maria Michelmann revealed precise and structural details regarding the conditions of detention and the practices of the current transitional authority. Through a video recording published based on her direct observations during months of captivity, Michelmann provided a coherent testimony documenting the trajectory of her detention from Aleppo and Idlib to Damascus, primarily highlighting the detention of Alawite women, the grave violations against mothers and their children, and the reliance on torture as a consistent policy.
Identity-Based Enforced Disappearance: The Concealment of Alawite Women in Damascus Prisons
In the context of her testimony regarding detention conditions in Damascus, Michelmann addressed the issue of enforced disappearance and targeted arrest, documenting her presence in a single cell alongside 15 female detainees belonging to the Alawite sect.
The detention of this number of women from a specific component in a shared cell represents direct evidence of the ongoing practice of identity-based arrest. The concealment of these women within detention facilities reflects the security apparatuses’ adoption of a policy of systematic sectarian persecution and targeting, an approach that contradicts the transitional government’s official discourse regarding the termination of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance practices.
Detention of Mothers and Children: Human Rights Violations Inside Detention Facilities
In another Damascus prison, Michelmann documented the level of violations committed against childhood and motherhood inside detention facilities. She reported being held with detained mothers accompanied by their infant children in cells characterized by extreme narrowness and suffocating overcrowding. She affirmed that the non-existent space within the cell constituted a direct physical barrier that prevented the children from learning to walk, in a blatant violation of the minimum human rights and humanitarian standards that ensure the protection of children and criminalize placing them in conditions that hinder their physical and motor development.
Psychological Manipulation and the Trajectory of Detention
The German journalist’s ordeal began early this year by subjecting her to solitary confinement inside a windowless cell, completely isolating her from any human contact. The isolation was accompanied by psychological pressure tactics, as interrogators informed her that the German government was ignoring Syrian official requests to verify her identity.
Michelmann explained that her detention trajectory began at the headquarters of the “Internal Security Operations Room” in Aleppo, later moving to another prison in the same city, and then to a women’s prison in the Idlib governorate. The Idlib prison marked her first interaction with other female detainees, where she recorded a pivotal observation regarding the presence of women detained since periods prior to “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” assuming power in late 2024. This proves that the new authority retained the previous detainees and continued to hold them instead of releasing them.
Electrocution and the Refutation of Official Propaganda
In her testimony, Michelmann denied any assessments describing the current authority as moderate, categorically asserting that the “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” regime is not a democratic one. She based this on her observation of coercive interrogation methods, documenting the exposure of detainees to systematic physical torture operations, which included beatings and electrocution.
Political Call: Syria is Not Safe for Deportation
Based on these facts and direct on-the-ground observations from inside the prisons, Michelmann concluded her testimony with a decisive political stance impacting European immigration policies. She affirmed that “Syria is not safe,” directing an explicit and direct call to the German government to halt all deportation operations of Syrian refugees, given the actual threat that the security apparatuses and current detention conditions pose to the lives of returnees.