Syrian Bafta winner: End of cowardly Assad is our happy ending. Waad Al-Kateab, who documented her life in Aleppo during five years of uprising in For Sama calls for foreign powers to leave after Assad’s collapse. Wednesday December 11 2024, 12.35pm, The Times. Waad Al-Kateab escaped Syria under threat from Assad’s forces, an experience that she says “shaped my entire life”CHANNEL 4/FRONTLINE/ITN PRODUCTIONS/PBS DISTRIBUTION/WGBH. A Bafta-winning documentary film-maker living in London has said “there is no way forward without accountability” for her home country of Syria.. Waad Al-Kateab’s film For Sama, which won best documentary at the Baftas and was nominated for an Oscar, told the story of family life during five years of uprising and bombardment in Aleppo.. This week Kateab, 33, said she was celebrating a “happy ending” after she and her husband, Hamza, a doctor, fled in 2016 to the UK, where she became one of the most prominent anti-regime activists in exile.. Kateab: “It’s been 13 years of pain for me, and for my parents it’s 50”. TRISTAN FEWINGS/BAFTA/GETTY IMAGES. “There has to be accountability,” she said, as the new Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, offered a reward for details of Assad officials involved in war crimes. “There’s no way forward without this, and I do believe it’s coming.. “Seeing Assad caving like a coward to Russia and leaving his own people, even those who truly believed in him — he left them in this way,” she said.. Advertisement. • In pictures: Syrians celebrate end of the Assad regime. Kateab, a mother of two, gained recognition as a citizen journalist documenting the rise of conflict in Aleppo, where she moved aged 19 to study at university, with her reports broadcast on Channel 4.. Her Bafta-winning film is titled after her daughter Sama, whose name means “sky”. CHANNEL 4/FRONTLINE/ITN PRODUCTIONS/PBS DISTRIBUTION/WGBH. For Sama documented her falling in love, getting married and giving birth to her first daughter, Sama, meaning “Sky”, as Assad’s barrel bombs fell.. The family, who grew to public prominence through their media work, made a daring escape past Assad’s forces, who were arresting opposition figures — a terrifying experience that she says “shaped my entire life”.. Reflecting on Assad’s fall, she said: “It’s a happy ending story but also it’s a lot to take in in a week. The first reaction was a lot of tears and crying, sobbing, with also jumping, laughing and singing.. Advertisement. “No one can believe it. My parents are here with me in London, they were awake as well. It was [a] mix of emotions after all these years — 13 years of pain for me, and for my parents it’s 50 — and we shared all this, sharing the most remarkable moments in Syrian history.”. Like many Syrians in the UK, the end of the Assad regime has unlocked new opportunities to connect with family.. • After Assad’s downfall, who will emerge as winners and losers?. “During the conflict, I couldn’t call my family in Syria as it would put them at risk, and you don’t want this,” Kateab, who uses a pseudonym to protect her security, said. “So this was the first time I called my auntie [and] uncle. I managed to talk to my cousins, who were five or six years old when I left, and now they are teenagers.. “I would love to visit Syria. We are waiting to get British citizenship — without the British passport I won’t be able to travel for that. Definitely, this was what everyone was thinking [to return to Syria] — it’s not just one minute when you can take this decision and go back, but of course this is what we want.”. Advertisement. Kateab was joined by the activist and producer Malala Yousafzai and the actor Emma Watson at the premiere of her most recent film, We Dare to Dream. DAVE BENETT/VIOLET FILMS/GETTY IMAGES. The decision will not be easy, as her daughters, aged seven and nine, only know life in London. “They are confused about what’s going on,” she said. “They see us happy, they see us so emotional, they ask: ‘What does that mean? Are we leaving?’ They have their own life here with friends, they speak better English than Arabic — there is another struggle and challenge — but we say: ‘Yes, we are Syrians and yes, we belong there.’ ”. For Sama, she says, was a vital tool and an “important document” for keeping the Syrian struggle in the public eye, and for getting MPs and members of Congress to connect with the human suffering of the Syrian people.. Now she calls for foreign powers, including the UK and America, to leave Syria and withdraw from military bases.. • Life after Assad: Syria rises from ashes as world nervously watches. “We should, and we have to, and I really hope to see the minimising of outside intervention,” she said. “Yes, there’s no big military forces now, no foreigners on the ground, but there’s UK bases, Russian bases, Turkey as well.. Advertisement. “Today, Israel is crossing over Syria and is still bombing there. We want a [new Syrian] government that respects itself and respects its people.. “The prisons are an urgent thing. People were released from political prisons in Syria but there’s still so many families waiting for their beloved ones.. “Yes, we are over the moon and we are happy [but] there is a lot of pain that we’re still trying to understand and go through.. “The chapter of Assad has finished and I don’t want anything for his system or mentality or rules to be taken with us to the next chapter.”. DISPATCH. The Moscow neighbourhood ready to welcome Assads. December 11 2024, 9.30am. Maria Sotnikova, Moscow |. Marc Bennetts. INTERVIEW. I was in the same Syrian prison as Austin Tice. He was very much alive. December 11 2024, 6.00am. Josie Ensor. , New York. PROMOTED CONTENT. Previous article. Inside the Moscow neighbourhood ready to welcome Assads. Previous article. Next article. Rayner to allow building on area of green belt bigger than Surrey. Next article
