Document #1020517
HRW – Human Rights Watch (Author)
They forced me to undress. Then they started squeezing my fingers with pliers. They put staples in my fingers, chest and ears. I was only allowed to take them out if I spoke. The staples in the ears were the most painful. They used two wires hooked up to a car battery to give me electric shocks. They used electric stun-guns on my genitals twice. I thought I would never see my family again. They tortured me like this three times over three days.
While most of the torture victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch were young men between 18 and 35, the victims interviewed also included children, women, and the elderly.
Human Rights Watch research shows that the worst torture has taken place in detention facilities run by the country’s four main intelligence agencies, commonly referred to collectively as the mukhabarat:
Each of these four agencies maintains central branches in Damascus as well as regional, city, and local branches across the country. In virtually all of these branches there are detention facilities of varying size.
All of the witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch described detention conditions that would by themselves amount to ill-treatment and, in some cases, torture – extreme overcrowding, inadequate food, and routine denial of necessary medical assistance. A graphic model depicting an overcrowded cell described by one former detainee illustrates how the conditions fall short of international legal standards.
The individuals who carried out or ordered crimes against humanity bear individual criminal responsibility under international law, as do those in a position of command whose subordinates committed crimes that they were aware of or should have been aware of and failed to prevent or punish. This command responsibility would apply not only to the officials overseeing detention facilities, but also to the heads of intelligence agencies, members of government, and the head of state, President Bashar al-Assad.
Agency | Name of Branch | City | Head of Branch |
Military Intelligence | Branch 215 | Damascus | Brig. Gen. Sha’afiq |
Military Intelligence | Branch 227 | Damascus | Maj. Gen. RustomGhazali |
Military Intelligence | Branch 291 | Damascus | Brig. Gen. BurhanQadour (Replaced Brig. Gen. Yousef Abdou in May 2012) |
Military Intelligence | Branch 235 (“Palestine”) | Damascus | Brig. Gen. Muhammad Khallouf |
Military Intelligence | Branch 248 | Damascus | Not identified |
Military Intelligence | Branch 245 | Daraa | Col. Loaial-Ali |
Military Intelligence | Aleppo Branch | Aleppo | Not identified |
Military Intelligence | Branch 271 | Idlib | Brig. Gen. Nawfel al-Hussein |
Military Intelligence | Homs Branch | Homs | Muhammad Zamreni |
Military Intelligence | Latakia Branch | Latakia | Not identified |
Air Force Intelligence | Mezzeh Airport Branch | Damascus | Brig. Gen. Abdul Salam Fajr Mahmoud (director of investigative branch) |
Air Force Intelligence | Bab Touma Branch | Damascus | Not identified |
Air Force Intelligence | Homs Branch | Homs | Brig. Gen. Jawdat al-Ahmed |
Air Force Intelligence | Daraa branch | Daraa | Col. QusayMihoub |
Air Force Intelligence | Latakia Branch | Latakia | Col. Suhail Al-Abdullah |
Political Security | Mezzeh Branch | Damascus | Not identified |
Political Security | Idlib Branch | Idlib | Not identified |
Political Security | Homs Branch | Homs | Not identified |
Political Security | Latakia Branch | Latakia | Not identified |
Political Security | Daraa Branch | Daraa | Not identified |
General Intelligence | Latakia Branch | Latakia | Brig. Gen. KhudrKhudr |
General Intelligence | Branch 285 | Damascus | Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Ma’ala (Replaced Brig. Gen. HussamFendi in late 2011) |
General Intelligence | Al-Khattib Branch | Damascus | Not identified |
General Intelligence | Aleppo Branch | Aleppo | Not identified |
General Intelligence | Branch 318 | Homs | Brig. Gen. Firas Al-Hamed |
General Intelligence | Idlib Branch | Idlib | Not identified |
Joint | Central Prison - Idlib | Idlib | Not identified |
Torture Archipelago; Arbitrary Arrests, Torture and Enforced Disappearances in Syria's Underground Prisons since March 2011 (Appeal or News Release, German)
Torture Archipelago; Arbitrary Arrests, Torture and Enforced Disappearances in Syria's Underground Prisons since March 2011 (Appeal or News Release, French)
Torture Archipelago; Arbitrary Arrests, Torture and Enforced Disappearances in Syria's Underground Prisons since March 2011 (Appeal or News Release, Russian)
Torture Archipelago; Arbitrary Arrests, Torture and Enforced Disappearances in Syria's Underground Prisons since March 2011 (Special or Analytical Report, English)