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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