Mubarak Chalouhy

My name is Mubarak.

At 36 years old, I was a 1st lieutenant in the General Security. In the meantime, I had returned to school to study law, hoping that these newly acquired skills would grant me a promotion. I often had to take the road from Mejdel (in Batroun) to the Lebanese University in Jal el Dib, to be able to attend my classes.

One day, as I was getting ready to go back home, my friend Najat asked me to drop off Ibtissam our classmate, who happened to live along the way.

At night, given that we had not returned, both our families went on a search to find us. They found my car, a blue Toyota, abandoned not far from Ras el Nach with no one inside it. We disappeared leaving our families in disbelief, deprived from any information to hold on to.

Furthermore, a couple of days following our disappearance, our common friend Najat was called in for questioning in Kfarhazeen. There, the Syrian soldiers did not question her, but instead investigated whether she had written a text in which she openly mocked the Syrians. She had indeed written a letter to her sister in which she joked about the Syrians of Homs, jokes that were commonly made in the region. And this letter was in Ibtissam’s possession the day we disappeared. Najat had requested she delivers it to her sister as they happened to be from the same village.

The main reason behind the interrogation of Najat was to intimidate her and make her feel guilty for our disappearance. Najat was released a few hours later, but her questions about the fate of her two friends remained unanswered.

My name is Mubarak Chalouhy. I disappeared with Ibtissam. Do not let our story end here.