JORDAN: A Jordanian detained by Syrian security is released and handed over to his family at the Syrian-Jordanian border

Record ID: 279699

  • Title: JORDAN: A Jordanian detained by Syrian security is released and handed over to his family at the Syrian-Jordanian border
  • Date: 10th May 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS OF RAMTHA GREETING ZU'BI / CHILDREN THROWING SWEETS ZU'BI TALKING TO PEOPLE AT HIS HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SHADI ZU'BI, FREED JORDANIAN SAYING "He (the interrogator) asked me, do you know why you are here. I asked why? He said some people confessed that you brought weapons inside Syria. I said impossible, I did not do that. Bring those people and y
  • Embargoed: 25th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jordan, Jordan
  • Country: Jordan
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVACIQAYJPB200H2VVEU21ZS0H2K
  • Story Text: Syria released a Jordanian citizen in the early hours of Monday (May 9) who was arrested in the aftermath of a tough crackdown in Syria's restive southern town of Deraa.
    Rights activists say efforts are ongoing to secure the release of dozens of other Jordanians arrested in the past two months inside Syria.
    Shadi Zu'bi is the first Jordanian detainee to be released by Syrian authorities in several weeks, Jordanian activists say. He was received at the Jaber border crossing by anxious relatives before he was escorted to his hometown of Ramtha, 80 km north of Amman.
    The taxi driver said he was arrested while entering Syria on a usual business trip.
    "He (the interrogator) asked me, do you know why you are here. I asked why? He said some people confessed that you brought weapons inside Syria. I said impossible, I did not do that. Bring those people and you can decapitate me (if they testify against me). He said we found a secret compartment in your car, I told him if you found such a place, you could decapitate me if you prove it," said Zu'bi, who accused Syrian authorities of torturing him during a 24 day arrest.
    "I had a proper dinner. Dinner consisted of beatings with shoes, insults against me, my country, my mother, my sister and my father."
    Late last month, a Jordanian worker from Ramtha was killed in Deraa during the military offensive that devastated the town, and left hundreds killed and injured.
    Syria is using its military to crush pro-democracy protests across the country. Rights group Sawasiah said the number of civilians killed in the violence across the country has reached 800, a figure disputed by the government.
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