美国国家公共电台 NPR--A Syrian American is suing the Syrian government for torture he says he suffered

A Syrian American is suing the Syrian government for torture he says he suffered

Transcript¹

A Syrian American is suing the Syrian government for torture he says he suffered in custody² there to raise awareness³ of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who still suffer in prisons.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

An American is suing the government of Syria for his treatment in a Syrian jail. This is the latest in a series of efforts to hold Syria accountable for more than a decade of torture and abuse. NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports.

RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE⁴: Obada Mzaik speaks to me on Zoom⁵ from his home in Columbus, Ohio, about his detention⁶ in Syria.

OBADA MZAIK: Then I went to the prison. They punished me and tortured me while I'm, like, fully⁷ naked. And after they finished, they called it the welcoming party. That's what they call it.

SHERLOCK: It was a beating they called the welcoming party for the weeks he was to spend in an underground prison at a military airport in Damascus, a desperate place where, Mzaik says, detainees were crammed⁸ together in cells with no sunlight. Mzaik was born in the United States to parents of Syrian descent. And the family eventually moved back to Damascus. He was there as a university student when peaceful protests against the Syrian government began in 2011. He was arrested a first time and held for 35 days on suspicion of taking part in those demonstrations⁹. Then in early 2012, he was at Damascus Airport, returning from a visit to the U.S.

MZAIK: And the officer at the border, he just, like - his face, like, changed.

SHERLOCK: He says he was accused of being a Zionist traitor¹⁰ and taken to a prison controlled by the feared Syrian Air Force Intelligence branch. There, Mzaik says, torture was routine. He describes hearing guards whip a child and pour freezing water on the child's naked body.

MZAIK: I can't forget, like, the boy, like, kid's voice while he was scared and asking for mom, looking for his mom.

SHERLOCK: Mzaik says his interrogators stripped him naked and threatened to electrocute him. They punched him in the face hundreds of times and then beat him with a PVC pipe.

MZAIK: It was a green color, like, very thick. It was beating - they beat me up. And he said that he needed to torture me without any sound. So if I make any sound, he make the torture more and more.

SHERLOCK: At one point, he says, interrogators brought in his cousin, who was also detained, and forced Mzaik to listen to his cousin's screams as guards hung him from the ceiling by his handcuffs. Mzaik was released after 23 days after he says his family managed to pay a bribe¹¹ to a senior regime official. Now he lives in the U.S. and is suing the Syrian government in a civil lawsuit¹² in a federal court in Washington, D.C., that outlines these allegations in detail. The case is backed by the California-based Center for Justice and Accountability, which seeks to prosecute¹³ human rights violators. The Syrian government did not respond to NPR's requests sent to its foreign ministry¹⁴. In the past, the regime has denied it commits torture despite extensive evidence to the contrary. Syria hasn't so far responded to this lawsuit, and in another case in the U.S. of an American journalist killed in Syria, never responded. Any ruling in the United States against the Syrian government is hard to enforce. But Mzaik says this isn't really the point of the case.

MZAIK: I hope to draw public attention for hundreds of thousands of Syrian who are less fortunate than me. And they are still detained and tortured in Syria until this time.

SHERLOCK: Some countries are rebuilding ties with the Syrian regime as it survived the Syrian war. Mzaik hopes his case and others will make them reconsider that and instead seek justice for the thousands of people still in Syria's jails.

Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Beirut.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

3 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

6 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

9 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

10 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

11 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

12 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

13 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

14 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。