A rights group has revealed new details of the war crimes being committed by the Assad regime against detainees in its prisons, relying on accounts of eight women who have been detained by the Assad regime.
Lawyers and Doctors for Human Rights (LDHR) said that various crimes are being committed against female detainees in the prisons of the Assad regime, including rape, psychological and physical violence, and brutal torture. It stressed that “the crimes against these women amount to crimes against humanity.”
In a report published earlier this week and titled “Voices from the Dark,” the NGO group said that the sexual violence against female detainees “form part of a systematic and widespread pattern of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, pervasive torture, sexual violence and life-threatening conditions inside Syrian government detention centers.”
The report brought together the collective experience of eight women who have been released from Assad’s prisons and explored the commonalities between the women’s treatment in detention. “The purpose was always to extract information or confessions, whether against them or a relative, or as punishment.”
Their stories contain horrific details of rape, sexual violence, and brutal torture. The women disclosed unbearable suffering and agony, to the point where one of them would have given up her children to make it stop. Three of the women attempted suicide during their detention, according to the report.
In the set recommendations LDHR put forward in its report, the rights group called on the Assad regime to immediately publish all information regarding the whereabouts and status of all detainees in Syria, including the fate of all those who have died in detention since March 2011.
LDHR called on all parties to the conflict in Syria, but the Assad regime in particular, to “immediately and unconditionally release all political detainees,” stressing that “the release of women and children should be prioritized.”
Furthermore, the NGO called for the granting of immediate, unrestricted access for independent monitors and doctors to detention centers across Syria. It also called for stopping “all forms of sexual violence and harassment against detainees, and to investigate and punish all those found responsible.”
The rights group called upon the international community to take all possible steps to ensure the release of all political detainees in Syria as an utmost priority and not to treat the issue of detainees as an agenda point for resolution through negotiations.
LDHR also called upon the international community to “conduct a comprehensive investigation and prosecution of those most responsible for the arbitrary arrest and unlawful detentions, enforced disappearance, torture, cruel and inhuman treatment, and sexual violence which have been an integral feature of the Syrian government detention system.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
