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The reluctant collaborator, surviving Syria's brusel civil war and its aftermath by Gheeth Abdul-Ahad, read by Moe Aube.

Before we begin, some names in this article have been changed.

Mustafa was 16 when he was detained and beaten by the police for the first time.

It was early 2011 and the first stirrings of the Arab Spring had grown into anti-government

demonstrations across the Middle East. In Syria, a sense of and the first stirrings of the Arab Spring had grown into anti-government demonstrations

across the Middle East. In Syria, a sense of anxious anticipation hung in the air,

and the government was responding with propaganda films and TV shows designed to fire up

nationalist sentiment. A friend of Mustafa has hired him to play an extra in one of these shows.

The job didn't pay much, but it was more fun than the long hours Mustafa spent working

in a restaurant kitchen.

Tall and handsome, with dark eyes and long eyelashes, Mustafa dreamed that maybe one day

he could join the long list of Syrians who starred on Arab TV dramas.

The youngest of three brothers and his sister, Mustafa had grown up in a crowded, working-class

district in the eastern part of Damascus. His father was a stern and conservative cleric, who

had beat his children for even minor

infringements.

At 14, Mustafa had run away and a relative in another neighbourhood had found him the restaurant

job.

On his first day at work, it took him four hours to peel a sack of potatoes.

...