The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that 35 people have died under torture in the prisons of the Assad regime since the beginning of 2018. A few days ago, news spread of the death of activist Rami Hannawi who has been detained by the Assad regime since 2012.
In a new report released on Wednesday, the Network said that a total of 40 people have been killed under torture in Syria since the beginning of 2018, 35 of whom died while in the Assad regime’s custody. Previous reports by the rights group said that the torture in the prisons of the Assad regime had a purely sectarian nature and had been carried out using various methods.
The latest figure has brought to 13,000 the number of deaths under torture in Syria since March 2011, while human rights activists believe that the number is much higher as the fate of tens of thousands of abductees and the forcibly disappeared is still unknown.
A few days ago, activists in the city of Suwayda mourned the death of peaceful activist Rami Hannawi, who has been detained by the Assad regime since August 2012. They said that Assad’s security and intelligence services informed his family about his death.
President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, on Wednesday warned of the sensitivity of the situation in Syria and said that the issue of missing persons is one of the most outstanding problems in Syria.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the ICRC has received a total of 13,000 tracing requests in Syria from people seeking loved ones, Maurer said. He added that the majority of the missing persons disappeared for political reasons and that their families do not know anything about them.
Independent international rights groups accuse the Assad regime of committing war crimes against detainees in its prisons. Human Rights Watch has previously spoken of brutal torture against prisoners of conscience. It also revealed the existence of a crematorium that the Assad regime used to get rid of the bodies of detainees who die under torture.
Human rights activists said that detainees in the prisons and security branches of the Assad regime are subjected to brutal torture, which cause death or chronic diseases, along with deprivation of food, medicine and treatment.
A former military photographer who defected from the Assad regime smuggled 55,000 photos of some 11,000 detainees who died under torture. The photos showed signs of brutal, systematic torture on the bodies of the victims. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
