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(WBEZ/Joe Linstroth)
Chicago immunologist Bara Sarraj survived almost a decade of torture in Syria's Tadmor Prison after his arrest in 1984.

Jun. 27, 2011

Last week, Syrian security forces raided dormitories at Damascus University and arrested more than 100 students who refused to take part in pro-regime rallies.  One place those arrested will not be taken is Syria’s infamous Tadmor Prison. Today marks the 31st anniversary of the massacre in which hundreds of political prisoners were killed inside the prison, which is now closed.  To mark the anniversary, Chicagoan Bara Sarraj, currently a transplant immunologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, shares his story. In 1984, Bara was a student at Damascus University when he was arrested and taken to Tadmor, where he was tortured for the next nine years.

 

 

From hell to Harvard: A Chicagoan’s story of survival in Syria’s infamous Tadmor Prison

Jun. 27, 2011
Today marks the 31st anniversary of the massacre at Syria's infamous Tadmor Prison. In 1980, hundreds of political prisoners were killed there after a failed assassination attempt on then-president Hafez al-Assad.