Hunger Strike in Homs Prison Enters Third Day

The detainees in Homs central prison, who went on a hunger strike three days ago renewed demands for release from arbitrary detention. With the breakout of the popular uprising in Syria, the Assad regime began incarcerating political dissidents and anti-regime protesters in this prison though it was originally dedicated to prisoners with criminal charges. Syrian cities are known to be abound with prisons and detentions centers. The major ones include: Aleppo Central Prison: Located in Northern Aleppo, 3 kilometers to the north of Al-Kandi Hospital. It contains a special wing for “Salafists”. Every room houses 25 prisoners, but after The Syrian revolution, each room now holds more than 50 prisoners. Damascus Central Prison in Adra: It contains 12 standard wings, each wing contains 12 rooms, each room is 55 m2. The number of prisoners in each room exceeds 100. It is estimated that 10,000 detainees are held in this prison. Conditions of detentions of prisoners differ from one prisoner to another as older prisoners have more privileges. Adra Central Women’s Prison: It consists of a criminal section and a political section, with nearly 180 prisoners held in the latter. All privileges that are usually allowed in civil prisons are banned. Female prisoners have been subjected to various punishments such as prolonged solitary confinement and beatings. One of the prisoners described how sick prisoners are treated in Adra prison, describing it as a “slow death.” Sidnaya Central Prison: The prison is surrounded by three walls, and is guarded from the outside by a military garrison. The prison is not subject to regulations from the Syrian Prison System and is not affiliated with the Ministry of Interior. Prisoners estimations suggest that there are 14,000 prisoners held in this prison. Palestine Branch: Located in Southern Damascus, the branch has 38 cells; each cell has an area of 2m x 1.5m, and is called solitary. In addition, it has 19 dormitories, each with an area of 10 m x 5.5 m. Every dormitory contains more than 60 prisoners. This branch is known for the most brutal and horrible methods of torture, including sexual abuse, rape, electrocution, and sleep deprivation for periods of more than three days. Nora al-Ameer, vice president of the Syrian Coalition, calls on human rights organizations to take action and listen to the voices of hundreds of prisoners held in Homs as they went on a hunger strike in protest over the horrible treatment from regime’s security forces. Sources from inside the prison told the Media Office that prisoners declared disobedience warning of a very violent reaction from the prison guards. Al Ameer calls for putting an end to the Assad regime’s gross violations against detainees, imposition of health control over detention centers and allowing the Red Cross teams to enter prisons and detention centers. She pointed out that the number of women in Assad’s prisons is continuously growing, and that all the promises made to the detainees by the prison administration are still largely not fulfilled. Last August, the ‏‎Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice‎‏ released a report in cooperation with the Syrian Coalition to highlight the crimes of enforced disappearance towards the Syrian people. Ammar Tabbab, director of the Syrian Commission for Transitional Justice and director of the file of enforced disappearances, said that “the commission recorded more than 60,000 cases of forced disappearances in Syria, among them 6,722 people who were taken including, 1348 children and 1511 women. He also said that “while Syria is not the first country where forced disappearance is recorded, it is the only country where entire communities are forcibly disappeared,” citing the regime forces’ closing off of whole areas near Wadi al-Daif army base in Idlib province. Survivors who managed to flee these areas do not know the fate of their beloved ones. Examples of enforced disappearances have been corroborated by the 55,000 photos leaked by Caesar, leaving no room for doubt about the regime’s responsibility. However, the world choses to remain silent with a complete disregard for human lives. In contrast, the international community loses no time to declare war on ISIS, showing its double standards as it condones Assad’s crimes and choses to counter ISIS whose crimes are only an extension and reflection of those of the Assad regime. Ironically, the international community and the Assad regime are trying to find an excuse through enforced disappearance to extend the scope of the implementation of the UN resolution to Syria, namely the case of the American journalist James Foley, who was executed by ISIS after he went missing in the end of 2012, even before ISIS began to exist. The world’s silence over the photos of 11,000 detainees, leaked by Caesar, proves that in our world the decision to apply justice is determined by the victim’s nationality, as the 11,000 Syrian detainees were not a match to one U.S. national.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)