The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Regime prisons in March 2022 | Five people die under torture

SOHR condemns ongoing killings in prisons and stresses the need for holding accountable all those who have involved, aided and abetted the killing and torturing of Syrian civilians

 

In March 2022, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) documented the death of five civilians under torture in regime prisons and security centres. According to Syrian Observatory documents and statistics, the victims were from Rif Dimashq, Hama, Homs and Deir Ezzor.

 

SOHR sources and reports have confirmed that the regime’s security services continue torturing and killing innocent Syrian civilians, which contravenes with claims of some powers which are attempting to improve the Syrian regime’s situation and preserve its prestige by covering up its crimes.

 

SOHR has also warned against the repercussions of the Syrian regime’s attempt to polish its image in front of public opinion by passing a law criminalising torture, where Al-Assad regime, through such procedures, is trying to disavow any responsibility for scores of serious violations committed since 2011

 

Here are further details on torture victims documented in March 2022:

 

  • March 5: A civilian from Soran city in the northern countryside of Hama died under torture in Saydnaya prison, after being arrested by regime forces at a security checkpoint in Hama city nearly six years earlier.

 

  • March 8: A family of a prisoner, who was from Misraba in eastern Ghouta, was notified of his death under torture in regime prison, two years After having been arrested for unknown reasons.

 

  • March 16: A civilian from Duma in Rif Dimashq died under torture in the “notorious” prison of Saydnaya, after having being arrested in May 2012 in Douma city.

 

  • March 25: Regime forces handed luggage and identity card of a civilian, who died under torture, to his family after nine months of detention. However, they didn’t hand over the civilian’s body. The victim was from Al-Quriyah city in eastern Deir Ezzor, and had been arrested at “Al-Panorama” checkpoint, west of Deir Ezzor.

 

  • March 28: An engineer from Palmyra city in Homs countryside died under torture in the regime political security branch in Homs city. The engineer had been arrested in Homs nearly a week before his family was notified of his death under torture. It is worth noting that the engineer was a former director of Palmyra water corporation and lived in Al-Rukban camp until late 2017, before he returned to regime-controlled areas in Homs.

 

We, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), condemn the ongoing killing in prisons of Al-Assad’s regime and warn against the ongoing indifference by the warring powers in Syria to the issue of detainees and forcibly disappeared. We also appeal to the international community to intensify its efforts to disclose the fate of the detainees and forcibly disappeared people, and identify and hold the perpetrators accountable.