April 14, 2018
Hassan Suleiman Hadifa, also known as “Abu Akram,” passed away yesterday at Suwayda Central Prison, where he had been incarcerated for over three decades without ever being brought to trial. Born in the town of Al-Kafr, within the As-Suwayda Governorate in 1944, Hadifa was detained by Syrian government intelligence in 1988 for contacting a family member in the occupied Syrian Golan.
Throughout his imprisonment, Hadifa was shuttled between multiple notorious Syrian prisons. He endured over 13 years in Tadmur (Palmyra) Prison, cut off from the outside world and deprived of visitation rights or legal counsel. In 2001, he was moved to Seydnayah Prison, where he stayed for the next ten years.
With the onset of the Syrian revolution in 2011, Seydnayah was turned into a nightmarish detention facility, prompting Hadifa’s transfer to Suwayda Central Prison. His health progressively deteriorated, and despite numerous appeals for his release and medical treatment, the regime authorities remained unyielding, culminating in his death.
Hadifa left his wife and five children, who were largely prevented from visiting him due to indiscriminate imprisonment policies. Notably, Hadifa never appeared in court from the moment of his arrest until his demise.
The Association of Detainees and Missing Persons in Seydnayah Prison offers its deepest sympathies to Hadifa’s family and urges the Syrian regime to promptly release all those detained since the 1980s who have yet to face trial and have consequently spent a significant portion of their lives behind bars for unspecified reasons.
