The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

The basements of death eject the bodies of more Syrian detainees claiming the lives of 5 citizens including 4 brothers from Al-Hasakah city and raise the number of casualties who were killed under torture

The processes of killing under torture, are continuing, along with the continued influx of the names of the detainees who were killed under torture in the Syrian detention centers, as a result of torture, abuse and other conditions in which the basements of death are rich of such conditions, where the Syrian Observatory monitored the death of 5 citizens they are: a detainee from Murak town in the northern countryside of Hama, who works as a media activist in the area, and 4 brothers from Ghwayran neighborhood in Al-Hasakah city, after being detained for years, raising to 15948 civilian casualties, including 125 children under the age of eighteen and 64 woman over the age of eighteen, of who have been killed since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in the middle of March 2011, until the date of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on the 16th of July 2018, out of 60000 detainees at least, all of them have been killed inside these branches and in Sednaya prison in more than 7 years, either as a result of direct physical torture or deprivation of food and medicine. And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the case of Syrian detainees being turned into pressure papers controlled by the players on the Syrian ground. The case of their release and the work towards emptying the prisons was a game of interests, manipulated by international bodies as well as local and regional parties, to use it in their negotiations and agreements, and this let-down of detainees’ case has resulted in thousands of casualties.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 28th of July 2018, that it monitored regime’s authorities handing over of arrested people who were killed to the civil registry secretariats in several Syrian areas, including areas in the Western Ghouta, al-Qalamoun, Aleppo, al-Hasakah, the countryside of Idlib and several other places, these names of detainees were killed in prisons and detentions as a result of torture, starvation, diseases, and other conditions within regime’s detentions, where lists of 4000 names have been handed over to the civil registry secretariats to register their names on the death lists, which raised resentment of thousands of families of the detainees in the prisons of the regime forces, fearing for the fate of their children who they have no information about since they were arrested, because the regime forces prevented them from visiting their children, and reliable sources suggested that that happened due to the acceleration of political process related to the Syrian case, together with the acceleration of the military operation of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities on the Syrian territory, while concerns continue because of the number of names that will be sent by the regime’s authorities to the civil registry secretariats in the Syrian provinces, cities and towns may increase more, although hundreds of civilians have been released consecutively during the last 2 months away from the media spotlight.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented more than 140000 detainees, of who are still in prisons and jails of the Syrian regime and who are suffering from extremely poor and disastrous humanitarian conditions, amid physical and psychological torture, insults and beating on a daily basis, and regarding the casualties under torture; the regime forces delivered the bodies of some of them to their relatives, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was informed by several reliable sources with that information, in addition to being informed by others that their children had died inside the detentions and that they were asked to issue a death certificate, also they forced the relatives of other casualties of who had died under torture within regime’s jails; to sign declarations that they were killed by opposition rebel groups, also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights received information that there are a lot of cases of citizens killed under torture within regime’s detention centers, but their families and relatives didn’t declaration their death out of fear of security prosecution and arrest.

The Syrian Observatory joins its voice to the voices of those calling for the stop of systematic murder and torture against civilians and the arrested detainees, guaranteeing their rights and not violating them, and the stop of arresting whomever opposes the views, ideas, and positions of the governing regime in Syria especially and in the world in general, also the Syrian Observatory -after hiding away the file of the Syrian detainees completely- strongly renews its demand to reactivate the case of detainees, after being absent by parties that have made other files and categorical interests as their priority, SOHR also calls on the UN envoy, Mr. Stefan Demistura and the active international regional, and international parties and organizations to work diligently, so that the file of releasing tens of thousands of detainees and abductees becomes in the priorities of any political meeting, conference, or negotiations, and not making it just words, but instead of that planning for practical steps for the start of releasing detainees, also the SOHR urges the international community and in particular the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Security Council, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for the immediate work by pressing the Syrian regime, in order to release the prisoners who are still alive, and to work to establish a court to hold the killers murderous and those who ordered them accountable, those who have lost humanity in their hearts and consciences and killed so many Syrian citizens.