Faraj Bayrakdar

Faraj Bayrakdar of Syria is a journalist and award-winning poet. In 1987 he was arrested on suspicion of belonging to the Party for Communist Action. He was held incommunicado for nearly seven years and was tortured. In 1993 the supreme court sentenced him to 15 years prison. 14 months shy of completing his sentence sentence, Faraj Baryakdar was granted Amnesty. He now lives in Sweden. You can read the statement he made for the press upon his release (courtesy of English PEN) here. He is a former guest writer of Stockholm City of Refuge.