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العربية
Months ago, Human Rights Watch reported the death of Rehab el Allawi in a report, based on leaked photos of detainees, documenting the violations of the Assad regime.
Rehab al Ellawi was from the city of Deir Ezzor and she lived with her family in the Syrian capital, Damascus. She had studied civil engineering at the faculty of Damascus before the Syrian revolution began. After that, she was involved in civil and peaceful activism and worked with one of the local coordination committees groups, which document the events and the violations of the regime. Rehab was also engaged in relief activities by helping the displaced people of Homs in the city of Damascus.
Rehab el Ellawi was 25 years-old when she was abducted and arrested by Assad’s intelligence on 16-01-2013. After that, Rehab’s family attempted to obtain any information about her fate through contacting some officials within the Assad regime, whom they paid more than 18 thousands US dollars to release Rehab. Despite all of the family’s efforts, their attempts failed in the end.
Rehab was in prison along with a detainee called “Hanadi’’, who was released later and said in an interview that Rehab talked, on a permanent basis, about her family and that she was greatly concerned about their fate following her arrest.
In the last year, Rehab was identified in the leaked pictures of the detainees who were brutally murdered in Assad’s jails, Qaisar who defected from the regime released the pictures. The family could identify Rehab’s body in the leaked photos. However, they still had a slight doubt about the picture; because of changes in her appearance which rendered her almost unrecognizable, and asked many of the former detainees, who met Rehab in prison, to make sure, if the picture belonged to her.
“Rehab’s brother called and asked me if Rehab is the one in the leaked picture”. Said Hanadi.
Hanadi managed to identify Rehab through her pajama; which she wore in the detention centers, she could also recognize her face and even the form of her toes, as Hanadi spent a long period with Rihab in prison.
It is worth mentioning, that Rehab is not the first amongst Deir Ezzor’s victims who have been killed in different parts of Syria since the revolution began.
