Syria: Missing US man found in Southern Damascus, says prison experience 'wasn't too bad'
Timmerman, 29, said he had gone to Syria on a Christian pilgrimage and was not ill-treated while in Palestine Branch, a notorious detention facility operated by Syrian intelligence.
by Edited By: Ajeet Kumar · India TVDamascus: Amid the political turmoil in Syria, a missing man from the US has been found in the country where he was kept in prison after entering the country as a pilgrim. The man, recognised as Travis Timmerman, in interaction with CBS News, stated that he was imprisoned in Syria for several months after he entered the country without permission, having crossed its border with Lebanon. It is to be noted that after rebels toppled Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad this week, thousands of persons from several prisons in the country have been released.
Timmerman said that he decided to go to Syria for 'spiritual purposes'. Earlier, locals saw him walking barefoot in the streets of Southern Damascus. He added that two men armed with AK-47s broke down his cell door on Monday, and left the prison with a large group to try and reach Jordan, CBS News reports. Speaking about his experience in the prison, the US man said, "wasn't too bad", adding, "I was never beaten. The only really bad part was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom when I wanted to. I was only let out three times a day to go to the bathroom."
"We both cried on the phone"
In a conversation with CNN affiliate KYTV, Timmerman's grandfather Richard Gardiner said, "I’m thinking the worst, after seven months you just think he’s gone". He added, "I called her up and said, ‘It’s him, and he’s alive!’ So we both cried on the phone." Between 2020 and 2021, Timmerman worked for the law firm Goldberg Law Group based in Chicago, Illinois, as told by the firm’s Managing Partner Michael Goldberg to CNN. Goldberg further described Timmerman as "pretty smart", adding that he was a "super nice guy" who had moved to Chicago for the job.
In related developments, rebels swept across Syria in only 10 days to end the 50-year rule of former president Bashar Al-Assad's family. The rebels also broke into prisons to free thousands of political prisoners and others who disappeared since the conflict began back in 2011.