Just Five Minutes

This heartrending memoir unravels the most perilous period in Syria's modern history, a time when President Asad’s notorious secret service agents, the Mukhabarat, hunted down and imprisoned anyone even remotely associated with political opposition. When a “wanted criminal” fled from the Mukhabarat’s clutches, they held hostages, like in the case of Heba Dabbagh.

Heba Dabbagh's story begins when Mukhabarat agents storm into her apartment and ask for “just five minutes” of her time. They drag her to a military interrogation unit where a long list of fabricated allegations awaits her. From there, Dabbagh takes us on a journey through the prisons of Syria and reveals the nightmares that come to life in the Mukhabarat interrogation and torture chambers. During her nine year imprisonment, Dabbagh shares cells and stories with members of the political opposition, communists, spies, children and even members of her own family. In this candid chronicle, Dabbagh exposes the oppression that thousands have lived but few dare to voice.

Nine Years in The Prisons of Syria