An American ‘pilgrim’ found in Syria after being held in prison for seven months by Assad’s henchmen has described the torture he heard during his captivity.
The man, identified as Missouri native Travis Timmerman, revealed that he had been traveling through the country on a pilgrimage when he was kidnapped by Assad’s forces.
In a video interview with Al ArabiyaTimmerman, wearing a dark gray hoodie without shoes, said he heard torture “on a daily basis.”
“It was mostly young men,” he said, adding that he “never heard a woman scream” while in prison.
He said he was nevertheless personally treated well.
‘I got food, I got water. The only problem was that I couldn’t go to the toilet when I wanted to. I was only allowed to go outside to the toilet three times a day. Other than that I wasn’t beaten. The guards treated me decently.’
He told it CBS News that he was released from prison after seven months by two armed men who smashed his prison door with a hammer on Monday.
“My door was kicked in, it woke me up,” Timmerman said. “I thought the guards were still there, so I thought the war could have been more active than it ended up being… Once we got outside, there was no resistance, there was no real fighting.”
Travis Pete Timmerman, a US citizen who went missing in Syria, speaks to the press after being released from Sednaya Prison following the fall of the Assad regime in Damascus, Syria on December 12, 2024
American citizen Travis Pete Timmerman, who went missing in Syria, speaks during an exclusive interview in Damascus, Syria on December 12, 2024
He said he was on his way out of the prison where he was held after the fall of Assad last week.
Timmerman said he left prison with a large group and headed towards Jordan before ending up in the Syrian city of Al-Dhiyabiya.
He said he “had a few moments of fear,” and still hadn’t processed the fact that he was now a free man.
He told CBS: “I still haven’t really thought about that. Since then, I’ve become more concerned about finding a place to sleep every night. So I really worked.”
A video released by Syrian rebels showed Timmerman sleeping in a house in the city.
An unidentified rebel appeared to confuse him with American journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing for 12 years after Assad’s forces kidnapped him while he was covering the Syrian civil war.
He also claimed that Timmerman had been tortured by Assad’s henchmen, which the American later denied.
The rebel said: ‘In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful, (here is the) American journalist, we don’t even know his name.
Timmerman said he left prison with a large group and headed towards Jordan before ending up in the Syrian city of Al-Dhiyabiya.
Timmerman said he was treated well while in prison
Timmerman said he heard of torture “daily.”
‘A brother found him (in) Al-Dhiyabiya in the early hours of this morning, they found this American.
“After the Americans lost him in the prison system for seven months, (Assad’s) wicked (guards) tortured him in Sednaya. This journalist is now safe and belongs to his family. We treated him well. Good. We called for the doctor and he was healed, praise be to God, Lord of the world.
“(The doctor) completely checked his health.
‘They found him in the orchards. He was naked and barefoot. (Here is a) message to the whole world: this man was with the criminal at the hands of Assad’s gangs, who recognize neither humanity nor human rights, and will be delivered safely, God willing to the people of America .’
More to follow.