The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) is a local non-profit, non-partisan Lebanese human rights organization in Beirut that was established by the Franco-Lebanese Movement SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily) in 2006. SOLIDA has been active since 1996 in the struggle against arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and the impunity of those perpetrating gross human violations.

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February 24, 2012

NOW Lebanon - Syrian survivors tell of “horrible” regime torture,


Abu Zeid rubs what is left of his hand, which he said was destroyed by his warders with a small explosive after he refused to prostrate himself before a picture of President Bashar al-Assad.
Abu Zeid, who did not reveal his true identity, fled from Syria to Jordan in December after surviving torture for taking part in pro-democracy protests.
He is one of thousands of Syrians who crossed into Jordan fleeing a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests that activists say has killed more than 7,000 since March.
"I was tortured, beaten and electrocuted in a basement for 15 days after I demonstrated against the regime in [the southern province of] Daraa," said the 34-year-old father of four, hospitalized in Jordan by Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Daraa, near the Jordanian border, is the cradle of the 11-month revolt against the Assad regime.
Most Syrian schools are now closed because of the unrest and many of them have been turned into detention centers with snipers prowling the rooftops.
Human Rights Watch has said children as young as 13 are a particular target in the "rampant" use of torture by Syrian government forces battling opposition protests.
And the United Nations Children's Fund has said at least 400 children have been killed in the violence and almost the same number detained, with reports of torture and sexual abuse.
MSF has accused the Syrian regime of "conducting a campaign of unrelenting repression against people wounded in demonstrations and the medical workers trying to treat them."
"In Syria today, wounded patients and doctors are pursued, and risk torture and arrest at the hands of the security services," said MSF president Marie-Pierre Allie.
Diabetic patient Said Heraki, 70, from the town of Herak in Daraa, said he lost a toe on his right foot during 22 days of torture.
"In jail, they forced me to drink at least two litres of water. I needed to go to the toilet. The guards knew I was diabetic. They stripped me naked, wrapped a thick rubber band around my testicles to prevent me from urinating," said the man.
A construction worker, Heraki showed AFP bruises that cover his arms.
"After tying me up, they left me alone in the bathroom. I nearly exploded. The pain was unbearable. I told them I would do whatever they wanted," he said.
Heraki added that the authorities forced him to sign a "fake confession" to torching a police station in Harak during a demonstration.
He told AFP he was released from jail after a presidential pardon in November.
Lying in a Jordanian Red Crescent hospital bed in Amman, Ibrahim, 26, said he was pistol-whipped by regime forces, his right leg broken and skull fractured.
"They brutally beat me just because I was trying to take an injured demonstrator to hospital in Daraa," the construction worker told AFP.
Saher Harriri, a 23-year-old university student, took part in a demonstration in a southern town, where he was hit in the hand by a bullet after the army attacked the protesters.
"Doctors in my town told me I have to go to Damascus because they did not have the needed equipment to treat my hand. In Damascus, I woke up in hospital to see that doctors had amputated my hand. I do not know why they did this. They could have saved it," he said.
On Thursday, a UN human rights report said the government had "manifestly failed" to protect its own people. Investigators said they had submitted a list of Syrian military and political officials suspected of crimes against humanity to the UN's top human rights official.

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