Syria: Detained and Tortured, But Still Strong

[Sally]

A human interest story.


Syria: Detained and Tortured, But Still Strong
"My brother Ali emerged stronger than ever."


Friday, a weekend day in Syria, used to be a time for leisure. Those days are long gone, and Friday is now associated with fear.

Ever since the revolution began, many Syrians find themselves willing Fridays to speed by without them witnessing any arrests or killings.

Early one Friday afternoon, my phone rang. I wasn’t expecting a call, so I instantly felt ill at ease. I walked slowly towards the phone wondering who it could be, and what news was coming my way.

It was my sister.

“They took him!” she screamed, “They took Ali. Come quickly!”

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Syria: Detained and Tortured, But Still Strong

 

[waltky]

ISIS usin' torture on a daily basis...

HRW: Vicious Torture Part of Daily Life Under Islamic State
July 11, 2016 - An international human rights group says that under the rule of Islamic State terrorists, brutal torture is an everyday occurrence and escape attempts will elicit, in many cases, a swift execution.

A new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) outlines some of the ways Islamic State (also known as ISIS) attempts to control civilians in the areas it has taken over and details the extent to which the group will go to keep people from fleeing. Residents who fled from villages in Iraq’s Makhmur district, which was ruled by Islamic State for 21 months, who made it to a refugee camp in Kurdistan detailed several instances in which the terrorist group violated international torture laws. In one case, a man said ISIS extremists beat him for 18 straight days because he was suspected of selling cigarettes, which is strictly forbidden as part of the group’s Islamic belief system. He also told HRW he saw 15 female Islamic State members repeatedly bite another woman as punishment for not wearing a face cover. “I just stayed for 10 minutes but then left, it made me feel sick,” the man said. “So I don’t know what happened afterward.” Several other people also reported receiving harsh punishment for rather minor crimes.

Militants from the so-called Islamic State stand behind what are said to be Ethiopian Christians in Libya, in this still image from an undated video posted to a social media website​

Another man accused of selling cigarettes was thrown in jail where he said guards would torture him daily by sitting on top of him and beating the bottoms of his feet with metal cables. He said he was released, though, once he paid a $13 fine to al-Hisba, the Islamic State morality police. A surviving military officer said when ISIS took control of his town in March, 2015, he was blindfolded and tossed into the back of a pick-up truck. The men who kidnapped him drove for about an hour without telling him where they were going. The man was then put in jail for 18 days in a room so small, he said he couldn’t even lie down to go to sleep. “Out of the headlines, ISIS routinely destroys lives and families in the Iraqi towns and villages it occupies. Simply trying to escape ISIS’s cruel rule can be a death sentence,” Joe Stork, HRW’s deputy Middle East director said.

In an attempt to deter people from fleeing, ISIS would frequently target the families of those who left, the report said. People from one village reported an incident where Islamic State fighters shot and killed a 20-year-old man who was attempting escape and sent a picture of the body to his family as punishment. Refugees from another village said Islamic State blew up the homes of at least six families as punishment after their relatives fled. Islamic State was also reported to place land mines around villages to keep people from leaving. Many of the former villagers told stories of Islamic State fighters summarily killing those the group suspected of conspiring with its enemies. In one instance, Islamic State executed a teacher from Khabata after accusing him of sending information to opposition forces.

Fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul, Iraq.​

In February, 2016, ISIS fighters accused a man in the village of Tell al-Shawk of using his cellphone to send information to an enemy, and shot him in front of the village’s primary school. The report said Islamic State also routinely stations its weapons near schools, shops and other heavily populated areas – a direct violation of international law. “Three times ISIS launched rockets from in between houses. They would pull up their launchers, fire two rockets or mortars, and then withdraw. The return fire then hit the house. If the family had been there, they would have been hit. Other families were close by, in their houses,” one of the residents told HRW.

Report: #IS routinely used torture and execution as punishment in #Iraq

See also:

Fight for Control of Largest Syrian City Intensifies
July 11, 2016 - Clashes between Syrian government forces and rebel groups have escalated in the northern city of Aleppo, with pro-Assad troops determined to impose a siege on rebel-held areas of the largest city in the country.

Last week, forces loyal to Assad cut off a major supply line, the Castello Road, which was strategically the most significant feeding route for the opposition fighters inside Aleppo. Assad's government seeks to reclaim all areas in Aleppo in a bid to end the presence of rebel forces permanently, analysts and local activists said. "Right now the Assad regime has momentum [in Aleppo]," said Chris Harmer, a Middle East analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank. However, he told VOA it would be difficult for the Syrian government troops to "reconquer Aleppo," even with continued support from their Russian, Iranian and Lebanese allies.

People inspect the damage at a site after it was hit by shelling carried out by rebels at Syrian government-held areas of Aleppo, Syria​

Control of Aleppo is equally important for the opposition groups, said an activist from inside the city. "Rebel groups want to show that their revolution has not stopped in Aleppo," said Omran Darwish, a local activist in Aleppo. He told VOA in a Facebook message that there are two strategic battles for the opposition now: one in the southern province of Daraa and the other one in Aleppo.

Message to allies

In a bid to boost his forces, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad recently sent an audio message to his troops and their allies fighting in Aleppo, thanking them for their military victories. "At this point, Assad is acknowledging Iranian and [the Lebanese] Hezbollah participation in the battle for Aleppo," Harmer said. "[This is] perhaps to thank them, as without their support, he never would have gotten this far." Russia and Iran have backed Assad forces with military and financial support since the beginning of the conflict in Syria. More recently, the Russian and Iranian involvement have become visible in Aleppo, analysts said.

A boy stands at a site hit by a barrel bomb in the rebel-held area of Old Aleppo, Syria​

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has played a major role in defending Assad forces. Analysts say that the deaths of IRGC members in Syria in recent months, and particularly in Aleppo, leave no room for the Iranians to deny the truth about their presence in the country. Almost 700 Iranian soldiers and militia fighters have been killed in Syria's civil war, according to news sources. "Hezbollah and IRGC, plus foreign allies, were always there," said Julian Röpcke, a geopolitical analyst and political editor at German newspaper Bild. "The Assad regime is not only dependent on irregular foreign fighters from Hezbollah, Shia militias and Afghan mercenaries, but also on conventional units of the Russian and Iranian military," Harmer said.

No end in sight

Related:

Human Rights Report Alleges Turkish State Abuse Cover Up
July 11, 2016 — U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has accused Ankara of blocking international scrutiny over what it calls widespread human rights violations by Turkish security forces in its crackdown on Kurdish rebels.

The Human Rights Watch report focused on fighting between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels in Cizre. The town is a center of Kurdish nationalism that has witnessed some of the most intense fighting since last year’s collapse of a peace process with the Kurdish rebel group the PKK. Human Rights Watch report author Emma Sinclair Webb alleges security forces are covering up abuses. "There are a huge number of civilians who have been killed during security operations. And there is almost no sign of an investigation into these deaths, and there is an attempt to cover up. We were prevented from visiting families who had lost relatives during the security operations," she said.

People walk past ruined buildings in Cizre, Turkey, early Wednesday, March 2, 2016. The town is a center of Kurdish nationalism that has witnessed some of the most intense fighting since last year’s collapse of a peace process with the Kurdish rebel group the PKK.​

Civilian victims

Turkish security forces say no civilians were killed in 10 months of military operations against the PKK; but, Sinclair Webb says many of the civilian victims were among society's most vulnerable. “Ince was a 3-month-old baby, who was in her aunt’s arms being carried downstairs in the courtyard of their home and she was shot from a hill where there were snipers positioned, and on military vehicles as well, according to the family. And in an attempt to take the baby to hospital, the family set out on the road holding a white flag and they were fired on again from the same spot on the hillside. Both the baby and the great-grandfather died,” she said.

People emerge from their homes following the lifting of a curfew in the mainly Kurdish town of Cizre, Turkey​

The government has said any claims of abuse would be investigated. The Human Rights Watch report also highlighted that large parts of Cizre have been razed. The government says all homes destroyed will be rebuilt. Sinclair Webb also says there was evidence of a massacre of around 130 people seeking refuge from fighting. “In three basements there were people sheltering," she said. "We know that some of those people were injured, some of them were civilians and the basements were entirely surrounded by the security forces, and there is a big question mark over why everyone in those basements, ended up dead. Why could nobody be evacuated from there?”

In May, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein called on Ankara to allow investigation of the basement deaths, a call that has been refused. The government denies charges of a massacre, says the circumstances of the deaths remain unclear. Human Rights Watch has backed the U.N. call for an international investigation.

Human Rights Report Alleges Turkish State Abuse Cover Up

 

[aris2chat]

748 barrel bombs were dropped on the people of besieged Daraya in June.

 

[Bleipriester]

748 million barrel bombs you mean. And 100 billion detained and tortured. Horrible!