Detainees in Syria's
year-old crackdown on dissent face a "nightmarish world of systematic
torture" that has set the country back decades, Amnesty International
warned on Wednesday.
"The scale of torture
and other ill-treatment in Syria has risen to a level not witnessed for years
and is reminiscent of the dark era of the 1970s and 1980s," the group said
in a report based on testimony from survivors who fled to Jordan.
The experience "is now
very similar to that of detainees under former president Hafez al-Assad - a
nightmarish world of systemic torture," said Ann Harrison of Amnesty's
Middle East and North Africa program.
The report, released on the
eve of the anti-regime revolt's first anniversary, points to 31 methods of
torture or other ill-treatment by Syrian security forces and their
"shabiha" militia allies.
"Many victims said
beating began on arrest, then they were beaten severely - including with
sticks, rifle butts, whips and fists, braided cables - on arrival at detention
centers," the report said.
It said testimonies of 25
people who reported having been tortured or otherwise ill-treated indicated
prisoners were most at risk when under interrogation.
"Several survivors
told of their experience of the dulab [tire], where the victim is forced into a
vehicle tire - often hoisted up - and beaten, including sometimes with cables
or sticks."
Other methods on the
increase were of the victim being suspended above or just touching the ground
and beaten, or being subjected to electric shock.
One of those detained,
named only as Tareq, told Amnesty of how, under interrogation in the Kafr Sousa
district of Damascus, he was forced to watch the rape of another male prisoner,
Khalid.
"They pulled down his
trousers. He had an injury on his upper left leg. Then the official raped him
up against the wall. Khalid just cried during it, beating his head on the
wall," Tareq is quoted as saying.
Harrison said the
testimonies amounted to "yet more evidence of crimes against humanity in
Syria."
"Syrians responsible
for torture - including those in command - should be left in no doubt that they
will face justice for crimes committed under their watch," she said.
Amnesty called for the UN
Human Rights Council to extend the mandate of its Commission of Inquiry on
Syria "and reinforce its capacity to monitor, document and report, with a
view to eventual prosecutions."
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