STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Residents of Damascus, Syria, made a discovery today in their recently liberated capital. They found a man wandering the streets of a Damascus suburb. The man was barefoot and said he was an American. He identified himself as Travis Timmerman (ph). NPR's Ruth Sherlock is at the scene where he was found. Hi there, Ruth.
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: So who is this man, and how did he get there?
SHERLOCK: Well, as you said, his name is Travis Timmerman. And, well, what we know so far is that he was found in this Damascus suburb, which is where I am. It's kind of on the outskirts of the capital city. And I actually spoke to a guy who found him. He said, like you said, he was literally walking down barefoot. This guy took him to one side, took him to a restaurant, and they gave him food and water. And then this man passed us a video of those first moments after he was found. You can take a listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: What's your name?
TRAVIS TIMMERMAN: Travis.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Travis?
TIMMERMAN: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Country?
TIMMERMAN: United States.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: United States?
TIMMERMAN: The United States.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: United States. (Speaking Arabic).
SHERLOCK: He was held for seven months in Sednaya. This is a notorious prison - a prison that strikes fear into the hearts of Syrians because thousands - tens of thousands of people have been arbitrarily detained in this prison under the Syrian regime. But in this video, he seems, you know, strangely calm. But after he was whisked away by the rebel authorities, he spoke to reporters in another location, and he said that he'd crossed into Syria from Lebanon and that he was there for spiritual reasons. Perhaps we can interpret that to mean some kind of pilgrimage.
INSKEEP: Yeah. And I suppose that there will be an effort to confirm that this man is who he says he is and his story is what he says. But I was just listening to the video you played there. It sounded like an American accent. So what's known about his time in detention?
SHERLOCK: Well, what we know is that the way he got out seems to be that he was released along with thousands of other prisoners who were freed by rebels in those hours after they stormed Damascus and ousted the regime. They went to these prisons. They shot down the locks on the doors, and they let people flee. Timmerman said he was scared at the time that there might be fighting between the prisoners and - you know, between the prison guards and the rebels. But there wasn't, so he left his cell. He joined a large group of people, and they started walking away. He said he'd been trying to head towards Jordan on foot. He told, you know - what we know is that, you know, this Damascus suburb where I am is some 20 miles from the prison, and...
INSKEEP: Wow.
SHERLOCK: ...He said he'd been trying to reach that border. There is a police report from Hungary which says the last time that he was seen was - he was last seen in a church in Hungary in May, and he told reporters that he'd tried to cross from Lebanon, as I said.
INSKEEP: Amazing. There must be friends or loved ones who will be amazed to get this news of Timmerman, and there must be friends and loved ones of other people imprisoned in Syria who are still looking for answers.
SHERLOCK: That's right. You know, of Americans, we certainly know of the family of Austin Tice, the American journalist who's been missing in Syria since 2012. You know, the White House has said they believe he is still alive. And his parents have called on people to search here in Syria and to bring him home. And, of course, there are thousands of other Syrians searching for their loved ones now that the regime has fallen, going into every prison, every detention center, hoping that they might still be alive somewhere.
INSKEEP: NPR's Ruth Sherlock - I'm glad you're on the streets of metropolitan Damascus to bring us this story - really appreciate it.
SHERLOCK: Thank you, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
