Athletes targeted by Assad fight to compete
Despite the threat of arrest or torture, the sportsmen and women who do not support the government have refused to give up their dreams, reports Foreign Correspondent Omar Al Muqdad
One was an Olympic bronze medallist boxer. Another was a world champion in freestyle wrestling.
They are two of the 581 sportsmen and women reported killed or severely injured in the Syrian war up until the end of 2014.
Aerial bombardment and shelling has destroyed stadiums and sports facilities across the country, said the Britain-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, indiscriminately killing those inside.
Even those who escaped physical harm had their lives upturned in other ways. Before the war, Maeser Mahmoud, 30, was a member of Syria’s champion water polo team and coach of the Deir Ezzour water polo team.
After the uprising began, he stopped entering his team in government-organised tournaments because of his opposition to the regime.
“I was later called to the Sports Union headquarters (a government body) and threatened with detention if I went against their will by not letting the athletes participate,” says Mahmoud, whose passport was also seized by the government, preventing him from taking part in international tournaments.
“Things were systematically going against those who refused to praise the government even if they were champions. “It didn’t make them immune to harassment, arrest, and in some cases being killed.”
After being threatened with detention, Mahmoud decided to stop playing water polo and quit his coaching job to become a sports teacher at a school in Deir Ezzour.
He is not the only sports star to have been targeted by the authorities, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
Others, it says, have been detained by the government, some were also tortured.
In March 2013, Syrian and Arab chess champion Dr Rania Mohammad Abbasi was arrested by the Syrian authorities. Her husband, Abdul Rahman Yasin, and their six children, aged five to 17 were also taken.
Their whereabouts today are unknown.
Despite the threat of arrest, and worse, the Syrian sporting community refused to be defeated.
The Free Syrian Body of Sports was set up by opposition groups in March 2012.
Its aim was to bring together athletes who had broken away from the government and to provide them with an international sporting body separate from the government’s Sports Union. The organisation, which
‘ Things were systematically going against those who refused to praise the government even if they were champions Maeser Mahmoud a member of Syria’s champion water polo team
established its base in Gaziantep, Turkey, also set out to document abuses carried out against sportsmen and women.
Their mission has not been an easy one.
“Today any sportsperson who opposes the regime will lose his identification and documents,” says Orwa Kanawati, executive chairman of the Free Syrian Body of Sports.
“Even their passports will be taken away from them.
“The air raids destroyed most of the sports facilities in the country, and we lost dozens of champions and athletes by arbitrary detention over the last few years.”
Some of the organisation’s athletes have racked up notable achievements.
Karate stars Ali Baroudi and Elham Abdel Ghafour won gold and bronze medals, respectively, at the Athens Open 2013 international tournament.
Last year, the Wushu Kung Fu team won a string of medals at international tournaments.
“What we are trying to do here is to normalise life as much as possible for athletes,” says Mr Kanawati.
“Giving up to the war is not at all on our agenda.”
Rather, the Free Syrian Body of Sports aims to “tell the world that we’re still here, this is our identity, and we are not terrorists.”
With the support of the sporting body Mahmoud is again optimistic about his sporting future.
Having managed to leave Syria, with the help of smugglers, in December 2014 and settle in Gaziantep, he is back in training for international tournaments.
“Despite the difficulties we’ve faced , giving up hope at this point is unthinkable for us athletes,” he says.