State security forces are focused on trying to crush an insurgency in Homs,
heart of the 10-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad
When he got in the taxi, the Syrian worker unwittingly walked into the hands of kidnappers. Dumped blindfolded in a graveyard eight days later, he was glad to be alive.
Abu Ahmed, a 35-year-old house painter, is one of hundreds in the Syrian city of Homs who have fallen prey to a growing sectarian kidnapping trade fuelled by increasing unrest.
State security forces are focused on trying to crush an insurgency in Homs, heart of the 10-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, residents say Homs has become a lawless place where people are dragged away at gunpoint almost daily, targeted solely for their religious identity. “My captors beat me and mocked me for being Sunni. They tied me to a metal bed and I slept sitting up,” Abu Ahmed said. “Even if they hadn’t tied me up, I wouldn’t have tried to flee. I was terrified. I thought they would kill me.”..
When he got in the taxi, the Syrian worker unwittingly walked into the hands of kidnappers. Dumped blindfolded in a graveyard eight days later, he was glad to be alive.
Abu Ahmed, a 35-year-old house painter, is one of hundreds in the Syrian city of Homs who have fallen prey to a growing sectarian kidnapping trade fuelled by increasing unrest.
State security forces are focused on trying to crush an insurgency in Homs, heart of the 10-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, residents say Homs has become a lawless place where people are dragged away at gunpoint almost daily, targeted solely for their religious identity. “My captors beat me and mocked me for being Sunni. They tied me to a metal bed and I slept sitting up,” Abu Ahmed said. “Even if they hadn’t tied me up, I wouldn’t have tried to flee. I was terrified. I thought they would kill me.”..