During a three-hour interrogation, located on a small chair in a cold interrogation room in front of an intelligence officer, Mazen Ismail was told to admit that he had been speaking ill about Syria which he refused. He was questioned about the music which he has published in Denmark with the group Lagix.

“Is the single ‘Jeg føler dig’ (‘I feel you’) a criticism of Syria?,” the officer asked him.

Eventually the officer instructed Mazen Ismail that he could not say anything bad to others about the Syrian society.

“They also said that I should use my music to say something good about the regime”, Mazen Ismail told BT. “In Denmark we often perceive music as a kind of hobby, but in Syria, the authorities are aware of the forces that lie in the music when used as a mouthpiece — it is something that can change people's mindsets,” says Mazen Ismail who made ​​sure to finish his study quickly and now is back in Denmark.

Mazen Ismail has a Danish-Palestinian background.