"Fear in the country reached a level that you felt like you can't even trust your family," said 26-year-old Damascus resident, Ayman Rifai.
"You had to have coded language among Syrians because there was no real freedom of expression," said Alia Malek, the author of 'The Home that Was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria.' You never knew who was listening, no matter where you were, she said. "Even in their absence, they were present," Malek said of the regime.
"If we want to nag about something, we used to mime it with our finger and point toward the ceiling meaning the government," said Maysoun, 49, who spoke on the condition that she be identified only by her first name because she fears reprisals from Assad supporters.
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