Books once forbidden in Syria now fill Damascus shelves after al-Assad fall
A man browses publications at a bookshop in Damascus on January 26, 2025. Novels recounting the ordeal of political prisoners rub shoulders with texts of radical Islamic theology in Damascus' bookshops after the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. (AFP)
Books recounting torture in Syrian prisons and different theological texts are now openly displayed in Damascus bookstores, marking a dramatic shift following the ousting of Bashar al-Assad.
Under the Assad regime, possessing or even inquiring about such works could lead to imprisonment or worse, as Syrians lived in fear of the oppressive security apparatus.
The fall of al-Assad, after opposition forces captured Damascus last month, ended over 50 years of his family’s authoritarian rule.
Syrians, previously terrorized by intelligence agencies infamous for torture and repression, are experiencing newfound freedoms.
Books once banned, such as Mustafa Khalifa’s The Shell, detailing years of imprisonment in Syria’s notorious Tadmur prison, and Ahmed Khairi Alomari’s My Aunt’s House, now line shelves.
“Before, people didn’t even dare to ask about these books,” said Abu Yamen, a veteran bookseller.
Even religious works, like those of Sayyed Qutb or medieval Salafi ideologue Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, are in high demand. “We sold them in secret, only to trusted individuals,” said Abdel Rahman Suruji, a bookshop owner who once had 600 books confiscated.
