SNHR is an independent, non-governmental, nonprofit, impartial
human rights organization that was founded in June 2011. SNHR
is a certified source for the United Nation in all of its statistics.
Friday, June 26, 2015
International Day in Support of Torture Victims
Twelve Thousand Victims of Torture in Syria
Report Contents:
I. Executive summary
II. Torture Crimes Committed
by Conflict Parties
III. Recommendations
Condolences and Acknowledgment
Executive Summary:
Even though torture in detention centers is prohibited according to all International Laws, it is still being practiced in Syria
in its most heinous ways since March 2011 and up to this moment. On a daily basis, the Syrian Network for Human Rights
records 3 to 4 deaths under torture in detention centers.
According to SNHR statistics, documented evidence and interviews, government forces are the first to commit all kinds of
violations since the beginning of the uprising.
• Death under torture outcomes committed by conflict parties:
A
Government forces (army, security forces, local militias, foreign Shiite militias): killed no less than 11,358 individuals under torture including 157 children and 62 women.
B
Different factions of the armed opposition: killed 31
individuals (most of them captives of government forces),
amongst 7 children and 2 women
C
Extreme Islamic Organizations:
ISIS (The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) killed no less than
29 individuals, including 2 children and 2 women.
An-Nussra Front: killed 5 individuals under torture
D
Kurdish self-management forces (mainly Kurd Democratic Union Party Forces- Public Protection Units and
Asayish Forces ): killed no less than 6 individuals including
one child
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Therefore, the toll of victims of death under torture is 11,429; government forces are responsible for 99% of death under torture incidents. We assure that these incidents and statistics only form the minimal of violations that have been committed in Syria since 2011
and up to this moment.
Torture took an ethnic or racial dimension, as seen in a number of leaked videos. Among
the most recent videos was the torture of a 15 years old teenager by government forces who
wore army uniforms and tortured the child only for having the song “O! Shall you leave
Bashar!”, (A song that calls for Bashar Al Assad’s resignation), on his mobile phone.
Mr. Fadel Abdul Ghani chairman of SNHR says:
“Governing authorities used the “torture policy” to retaliate, with extreme
force and injustice, from every opposing individual. Crimes vary between
death, torture, disability, or long term psychological damage. The governing
regime is extremely centric; therefore decisions are limited to certain group
of officials who order these torturing techniques.”
SNHR is committed to issuing a monthly report about the victims of death under torture,
shedding the light on the most notable violations, in addition to sending weekly e-mails to
assigned reporters.
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II- Torture Crimes Committed by Conflict Parties:
a. Government forces:
Government forces practiced all methods of torture since the beginning of the uprising
in March 2011, which was turned later to an armed conflict. SNHR published several
statistics and discussed in a separate study the Most Notable Methods of Torture practiced
in government detention centers, that is still being committed up to this moment. No
government official has been questioned about these torture crimes, not forgetting that
the Syrian constitution, under Al Ba’ath Party ruling, protects those who commit these
crimes.
SNHR documented the minimum of 118 thousand imprisonment cases. It has become
clear to us through the process of daily documentation and observation since 2011 that
citizens are unaware of their son’s fate and whereabouts. Therefore, most of them become
victims of enforced disappearance, and in some cases, detainees’ families are unaware of
their son’s death.
Torture is being practiced on prisoners since their arrest, and maintained through the investigation process. We would like to draw attention to death shootings by firing squad in
prisons, as we recorded no less than 2,842 incidents amongst 1,466 shootings were committed inside the prisons. The rest of the cases (1,376) were documented for individuals
who were arrested at checkpoints and killed after brief interrogation.
Syrian authorities, especially its local militias, did not stop the regulated and systematic
abductions or imprisonments; especially against the most prominent opposition figures.
In most cases abduction becomes an enforced disappearance case. These torture actions
mount to crimes against humanity and war crimes according to the International Humanitarian Law.
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Since March 2011, up to this moment, Syrian authorities still prevent the International Independent Investigation Committee from entering Syria. Neither the
International Red Cross, nor the Syrian Red Crescent
managed to visit 98% of the government official prisons. As for the unofficial detention centers such as
playgrounds, military bases, schools, hospitals, buildings, villas, and others, the governing authorities did
not allow it at all.
b. Armed Opposition Groups:
Some of the armed opposition groups tortured their prisoners using wooden or metal
sticks and electrical cables during interrogations. They used the same techniques used
by government authorities, i.e. the “Wheel” and “Al Shabih” torturing techniques. Those
prisoners were accused of collaborating with the government forces or those who committed crimes as murder or adultery. Armed opposition groups did not have systematic
torture methods, as testimonies given to SNHR. It is worth mentioning that after publishing a previous study, some armed opposition groups contacted us and expressed their intentions to collaborate with the investigations and clarify some details about the incidents,
including Al Islam Army lead by Zahran Aloush.
Armed opposition groups tortured prisoners, but their actions were not systematically
committed at a wide range, therefore it doesn’t mount to crimes against humanity, however it is under prosecution as war crimes.
c. Extreme Islamic Organizations:
i. ISIS:
ISIS arrested no less than 4,127 individuals, most of them were Sunnis. However, ISIS
tortured and humiliated several civilians who are ethnically different than it, such as
Alawi and Christian villages. Kurdish communities also suffered from torture and racial
discrimination.
ISIS methods of torture are quite similar to those of government forces in its prisons, but
they also use different, such as:
1. Fake drowning: applied by strapping the detainee to a stretcher or a chair and putting a
wet cloth on his face, which makes it difficult for him to breathe, and then they pour cold
water on him. This method is usually used with the foreign detainees in a simulation to
the fake drowning used by the CIA in questioning the suspected terrorists after the attacks
of September 11.
The Wheel is a torturing technique where a detainee is put in car wheel. His knees are bent then he is battered. Al
Shabih: is a torturing technique where the detainee is held from his hands or legs above the ground then left hanging.
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2. Suffocation by Gas: applied by exposing the detainee, while investigating with him, to
suffocation by gas such as opening a gas cylinder, throwing a tear gas bomb, or filling his
cell with smoke.
3. Fake slaughtering: inflicted by threatening the detainee that he is going to be slaughtered after taking him to the altar. This process is repeated several times in order to intimidate the prisoners.
4. Gunshots around the prisoner’s body.
5. Forcing the detainee to watch videos and recordings of beheading and burning former
prisoners.
6. Torture to death: ISIS practiced several methods of torture under the claim of implementing the Islam Law “Sharia”, such as stoning to death, or throwing the prisoner over
a cliff then stoning to him death.
ii. An-Nussra Front:
An-Nussra Front mainly uses lashing in its interrogations. They lash the detainee with a
stick or a cable, and use the “Wheel” and “Al Shabih” methods. They practice psychological torture systematically through threatening the detainee with execution or accuse
him of infidelity. Then they take him to the execution place, and back to the prison several
times, as we have been told through several testimonies of survivors from An-Nussra
Front detention centers.
The Extremist Islamic Groups practiced torture on a wide range; therefore these actions
mount to crimes against humanity and war crimes according to the International Humanitarian Law.
d. “Self-management” forces (mainly Kurd Democratic Union Party Forces- Public
Protection Units and Asayish Forces ):
“Self-management” forces use harmful battering on the head and breaking bones with
Kalashnikov weapons or metal sticks in interrogations with their prisoners. Many survivors confirmed the use of electrical shocks, sexual harassment and blackmailing. Some of
them confirmed the use of racial abuse phrases, but the latter was not a systematic policy.
“Self-management” forces tortured individuals, but not at a wide range, therefore it doesn’t
mount to crimes against humanity, yet it is under prosecution as war crimes.
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iv. Recommendations
To the Security Council:
-An effective method should be enacted to protect prisoners in government prisons.
-The Security Council must continue to execute the following:
Resolution 2042 issued on 14 April 2012, resolution 2012, 2043 issued on 21 April 2012,
and 2139 issued on 22 February 2014, to prevent enforced disappearances.
-Syrian authorities should be pressured to allow the International Committee of the Red
Cross to enter the prisons and investigate the prisoners’ status and their needs.
-Syrian authorities, and all other conflict parties, should be obligated to reveal the prisoners’ whereabouts and their secret detention centers.
To the office of the High commissioner for human rights:
Frequent reports, that convict the ongoing systematic torture, should be issued. Survivors
should be honored by highlighting their stories and holding the perpetrators accountable
for their violations.
Condolences and Acknowledgment:
All our thanks to the local activists and survivors for their effective contribution through
their testimonies, and our sincere condolences go to the victims’ families their friends.
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