The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has reported that at least 15,051 individuals, including 190 children and 94 women, have lost their lives due to torture in detention centers under the Assad regime since March 2011. Furthermore, nearly 136,000 detainees or forcibly disappeared individuals continue to endure severe torture.
In a report released on Tuesday, the SNHR emphasized that the lawsuit filed by the Netherlands and Canada against the Assad regime before the International Court of Justice marks a significant step toward accountability.
The report confirmed that the military field courts of the Assad regime issued at least 14,843 death sentences between March 2011 and August 2023, leading to the execution of 7,872 individuals. It added that their bodies were never returned to their grieving families, and their deaths were not officially communicated to their loved ones.
The SNHR disclosed that it has obtained approximately 1,250 death certificates for forcibly disappeared persons who met their demise under torture. Shockingly, the regime failed to notify their families until the date of the report’s release.
The report underscored the numerous methods of torture employed by the regime within its detention centers, varying in intensity and cruelty for each method. This widespread use has left hardly any surviving detainees who have not been subjected to at least one of these gruesome methods. It was noted that the regime utilized no fewer than 83 distinct torture techniques in its detention centers.
The rights group has called upon the Security Council and the United Nations, in accordance with Chapter Seven of the United Nations Charter, to safeguard the tens of thousands of detainees and forcibly disappeared individuals held by the regime, shielding them from torture to the point of death, and rescuing those who still cling to life.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
