When Mohammed K. was blindfolded and taken into the bowels of apolice building last year, he could only anticipate the worst: along incarceration, perhaps transfer to one of Syria's mostinhospitable prisons and, more than likely, a few unpleasantsessions of torture. He was interrogated five times, slapped in the face and beaten withsticks. He was held in a small, underground cell with severalothers shivering from the cold.
His cellmates, it seems, had endured even worse. He said oneelderly man had a bruised face so contorted it was unrecognizable.Another had been dragged on the floor so often that his knees werefull of deep cuts that had become badly infected. They groaned all night with the pain. All of them had been rounded up during the protests calling forSyrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
All were now living a nightmare that had been rooted for so long inthe minds of so many Syrians that few had dared to express dissent. "My uncle spent about 15 years of his life (in prison)," Mohammedtold me in an interview last week. "I met him for the first timewhen I was in the 9th grade." Many of the prisoners Mohammed heard about like his uncle hadmedical problems, broken bones, and left jail mentally unstable."They were psychologically affected by what happened," Mohammedsaid. So, it seemed, was an entire nation. Brutality everywhere Syria's prisons are among the world's most notorious, fearsomeinstitutions such as Tadmor and Sidnaya that have for decadeshosted the most unfortunate of Syria's incarcerated. Cosmetic Glass Bottles
A young Syrian protester in Lebanon holds a placard with a pictureof 13-year-old Syrian boy Hamza al-Khatib, who activists say wastortured and killed by security forces in June 2011. Untold numbers of Syrians fingered, rightly or wrongly, as beingmembers of the country's long-standing, long-suffering oppositionended up in these places. Many were locked away for years, tortured in unspeakable ways, andapart from the occasional attention shown them by some human rightsorganizations, their plight seemed to be of little internationalconcern. Bara Sarraj was one of them. He was apprehended at a Damascusuniversity one day in 1984 on suspicion of being an oppositionmember. Colour Flyer Printing Manufacturer
He was only 21 years old and spent the next 12 years inprison, nine of them at Tadmor. "In Tadmor it is constant torture," he told me in an interview. "Itstarts with the entry to that prison." One technique he endured required prisoners to fold themselvesinside a car tire that is hoisted up before the beating begins. "They beat you until you faint, until the flesh of your feet (is)showing. China Vacuum Seal Storage Bag
So that is the start. After that, every day, every day youhave torture, morning, noon and evening and at night with differentways." For decades, such stories dissuaded all but the most single-mindedopponents from speaking out against the regime. Mohammed says that Syrians were constantly "afraid that they mightget into trouble and face the same detention and torture, which isinhuman." That history of brutality gives some sense of the courage it tookfor Syrians to openly display their defiance to the Assad regime, adefiance that began almost exactly one year ago. Yet the fact that such brutality was endemic also helps explain whyso many Syrians rose up to begin with they'd had enough of thetorture, and with being afraid of it.
"I think it is a big factor," says Mohammed. The current crackdown Today, these same stories are re-emerging: first-hand accounts oftorture and ill treatment from those imprisoned in the currentcrackdown. Syrian authorities have denied systematic torture of detainees. But in a report released to mark the one-year anniversary of thestart of the Syrian uprising, Amnesty International documents the cases of many Syrians who underwent horrific torture afterbeing arrested for simply protesting.
"Survivors interviewed by Amnesty International in Jordan describedthree forms of electrocution," says the report in one of manychilling accounts. "After water is sprayed onto detainees and the floor, an electriccharge is applied to the floor and the current rushes through tothose covered in water; via electric prods; and in one case in ametal 'electric chair.' "Such methods often cause the victim to collapse and pass out." It gets worse. "I was crucified naked on the door for three days using metalhandcuffs with my toes barely touching the floor," said one man,named "Karim," describing how Air Force Intelligence officialstortured him in Dera'a in October 2011. Another Syrian, "Tariq," described this scene during hisincarceration last July: "I was at the back so I couldn't seeKhalid well, but they pulled down his trousers. He had an injury onhis upper left leg.
"Then the official raped him up against the wall. Khalid just criedduring it, beating his head on the wall." Telling the story Mohammed, the man I met last week, was relatively lucky. In the endhe spent less than a week in prison, and left Syria as soon as hewas released. "Every time I see people in the streets protesting and facing allthat danger with such huge bravery, that gives me hope.
And thenmakes me forget what happened to me." For many Syrians, the emerging evidence of the ensuing torture alsosteels their resolve. Sarraj, who is now an academic in the U.S., had remained silentabout his experiences when he was released from prison until theuprising started. Amazed at the protesters' courage and at the countless onlinevideos Syrians have uploaded that widely publicized the kind oftorture he once endured he began to write his story, on Twitter,one memory at a time. His followers encouraged him to keep going and his effort ended ina book. "I felt that there are listening ears this time." The world, hesaid, was finally ready to hear what Syrians have known forgenerations.
But what reform? It is that history of torture and brutality not to mention the7,500 or so deaths, and the nearly quarter of a million displacedsince the crackdown began that leaves so many Syriansincredulous that Assad is now speaking of parliamentary elections,and plans for reform. Many say Assad missed several chances to alter Syria's history ofoppression first when he became president in 2000, and again in2005, when the international community turned its attention to hiscountry and its long-time influence and control over Lebanon, itstiny neighbour. Back then, emboldened opposition members seized the opportunity andwrote the so-called Damascus Declaration, openly demandingdemocratic elections, the end of oppressive tactics and the releaseof prisoners of conscience. In an interview at the time in Damascus, one of them told me thatwithout dramatic change which would be a miracle, he called it Syria would be in for a period of great turmoil. How true thosewords ring now.
Faced with those demands in 2005, Assad chose a different path. Hepromised reform, and then repeatedly failed to deliver. He also threw many of those opposition figures some of themalready former prisoners of conscience back into prison. Today, with so many more suffering from the regime's allergy tocriticism, dialogue and reform now seem unacceptable options.
"They are asking a household to have a dialogue with a killer or athief," Sarraj says. "That is very disrespectful of all thepeople who are killed. "The answer to this guy is just like (what happened in) Libya. Heshould be out. Period.".
His cellmates, it seems, had endured even worse. He said oneelderly man had a bruised face so contorted it was unrecognizable.Another had been dragged on the floor so often that his knees werefull of deep cuts that had become badly infected. They groaned all night with the pain. All of them had been rounded up during the protests calling forSyrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
All were now living a nightmare that had been rooted for so long inthe minds of so many Syrians that few had dared to express dissent. "My uncle spent about 15 years of his life (in prison)," Mohammedtold me in an interview last week. "I met him for the first timewhen I was in the 9th grade." Many of the prisoners Mohammed heard about like his uncle hadmedical problems, broken bones, and left jail mentally unstable."They were psychologically affected by what happened," Mohammedsaid. So, it seemed, was an entire nation. Brutality everywhere Syria's prisons are among the world's most notorious, fearsomeinstitutions such as Tadmor and Sidnaya that have for decadeshosted the most unfortunate of Syria's incarcerated. Cosmetic Glass Bottles
A young Syrian protester in Lebanon holds a placard with a pictureof 13-year-old Syrian boy Hamza al-Khatib, who activists say wastortured and killed by security forces in June 2011. Untold numbers of Syrians fingered, rightly or wrongly, as beingmembers of the country's long-standing, long-suffering oppositionended up in these places. Many were locked away for years, tortured in unspeakable ways, andapart from the occasional attention shown them by some human rightsorganizations, their plight seemed to be of little internationalconcern. Bara Sarraj was one of them. He was apprehended at a Damascusuniversity one day in 1984 on suspicion of being an oppositionmember. Colour Flyer Printing Manufacturer
He was only 21 years old and spent the next 12 years inprison, nine of them at Tadmor. "In Tadmor it is constant torture," he told me in an interview. "Itstarts with the entry to that prison." One technique he endured required prisoners to fold themselvesinside a car tire that is hoisted up before the beating begins. "They beat you until you faint, until the flesh of your feet (is)showing. China Vacuum Seal Storage Bag
So that is the start. After that, every day, every day youhave torture, morning, noon and evening and at night with differentways." For decades, such stories dissuaded all but the most single-mindedopponents from speaking out against the regime. Mohammed says that Syrians were constantly "afraid that they mightget into trouble and face the same detention and torture, which isinhuman." That history of brutality gives some sense of the courage it tookfor Syrians to openly display their defiance to the Assad regime, adefiance that began almost exactly one year ago. Yet the fact that such brutality was endemic also helps explain whyso many Syrians rose up to begin with they'd had enough of thetorture, and with being afraid of it.
"I think it is a big factor," says Mohammed. The current crackdown Today, these same stories are re-emerging: first-hand accounts oftorture and ill treatment from those imprisoned in the currentcrackdown. Syrian authorities have denied systematic torture of detainees. But in a report released to mark the one-year anniversary of thestart of the Syrian uprising, Amnesty International documents the cases of many Syrians who underwent horrific torture afterbeing arrested for simply protesting.
"Survivors interviewed by Amnesty International in Jordan describedthree forms of electrocution," says the report in one of manychilling accounts. "After water is sprayed onto detainees and the floor, an electriccharge is applied to the floor and the current rushes through tothose covered in water; via electric prods; and in one case in ametal 'electric chair.' "Such methods often cause the victim to collapse and pass out." It gets worse. "I was crucified naked on the door for three days using metalhandcuffs with my toes barely touching the floor," said one man,named "Karim," describing how Air Force Intelligence officialstortured him in Dera'a in October 2011. Another Syrian, "Tariq," described this scene during hisincarceration last July: "I was at the back so I couldn't seeKhalid well, but they pulled down his trousers. He had an injury onhis upper left leg.
"Then the official raped him up against the wall. Khalid just criedduring it, beating his head on the wall." Telling the story Mohammed, the man I met last week, was relatively lucky. In the endhe spent less than a week in prison, and left Syria as soon as hewas released. "Every time I see people in the streets protesting and facing allthat danger with such huge bravery, that gives me hope.
And thenmakes me forget what happened to me." For many Syrians, the emerging evidence of the ensuing torture alsosteels their resolve. Sarraj, who is now an academic in the U.S., had remained silentabout his experiences when he was released from prison until theuprising started. Amazed at the protesters' courage and at the countless onlinevideos Syrians have uploaded that widely publicized the kind oftorture he once endured he began to write his story, on Twitter,one memory at a time. His followers encouraged him to keep going and his effort ended ina book. "I felt that there are listening ears this time." The world, hesaid, was finally ready to hear what Syrians have known forgenerations.
But what reform? It is that history of torture and brutality not to mention the7,500 or so deaths, and the nearly quarter of a million displacedsince the crackdown began that leaves so many Syriansincredulous that Assad is now speaking of parliamentary elections,and plans for reform. Many say Assad missed several chances to alter Syria's history ofoppression first when he became president in 2000, and again in2005, when the international community turned its attention to hiscountry and its long-time influence and control over Lebanon, itstiny neighbour. Back then, emboldened opposition members seized the opportunity andwrote the so-called Damascus Declaration, openly demandingdemocratic elections, the end of oppressive tactics and the releaseof prisoners of conscience. In an interview at the time in Damascus, one of them told me thatwithout dramatic change which would be a miracle, he called it Syria would be in for a period of great turmoil. How true thosewords ring now.
Faced with those demands in 2005, Assad chose a different path. Hepromised reform, and then repeatedly failed to deliver. He also threw many of those opposition figures some of themalready former prisoners of conscience back into prison. Today, with so many more suffering from the regime's allergy tocriticism, dialogue and reform now seem unacceptable options.
"They are asking a household to have a dialogue with a killer or athief," Sarraj says. "That is very disrespectful of all thepeople who are killed. "The answer to this guy is just like (what happened in) Libya. Heshould be out. Period.".
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