‘No idea what happened’: US man vanishes in Syria
A 21-year-old Syrian-American has been missing for three weeks after returning to Syria from suburban Detroit, according to a family member in Michigan.
Obada Mzaik flew to Damascus from Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Jan. 3, but wasn’t seen leaving an immigration checkpoint, Dr. Firas Nashef, his uncle in Farmington Hills, said.
Mzaik, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, was planning to study civil engineering at Al-Yarmouk University.
He had been temporarily living in the Detroit area with a younger brother while taking fall classes at Oakland Community College, Nashef said.
The brother, Obaie Mzaik, 19, who was on the same flight, was not detained in Damascus, Nashef said.
There are a number of points in this story which make me believe that there is more to it than meets the eye. Here is a young man, and American citizen, who has been born and raised in the United States, deciding to go to a country in turmoil to continue his studies. I suppose this could happen; people return to their countries of origin to study and learn about their roots. No need to prejudge simply because the story is about an Arab-American rather than an Irish-American, say. But there is more:
“It’s horrendous because knowing what we know about the prison system over there, anything goes,” Nashef told the Detroit News Monday. “The prison system and justice system over there is not very impressive.”
He added that Mzaik had been detained in Syria for 37 days last year, but had not been charged officially.
I have serious doubts about the real circumstances of this event. Who goes back to a country a year after being detained by a rogue fascist regime? What is so pressing about studying in Damascus that it should not wait until the situation is stable? One possibility is that, given his age, there are issues regarding military service that he should have resolved prior to trying to enter the country again.
The Detroit News has more detail. The boys’ mother moved them to Syria in the 1990s, and Obada was studying engineering when he was detained last year for 37 days and released without charges. His mother sent him to Detroit for his own safety, but he apparently chose to return now - and failed to exit the airport in Damascus.