Nearly 18,000 people have died inside Syrian prisons since 2011, report finds

Nearly 18,000 people have died in Syrian prisons since 2011 with authorities regularly using torture, beatings and rape against prisoners, says a new report from Amnesty International.

The UK-based organization said in its report new data from the Human Rights Data Analysis Group estimates 17,723 people have died in custody in Syria between March 2011 and December 2015, an average of more than 300 deaths per month. In the decade leading up to 2011, Amnesty  recorded an average of around 45 deaths in custody in Syria each year – a rate of roughly four people a month.

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The new report from the human rights group details the experiences of thousands of former detainees, including 65 torture survivors, 54 men and 11 women, interviewed by Amnesty from December 2015 to May 2016.

Those interviewed said the abuse began from the day they entered prison with so-called “welcome parties” that involved beatings with silicone or metal rods.

Sexual violence was reported by both women and men that would start at their first security check.

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Umm Omar described her experience while detained by Military Intelligence.

Those interviewed described torture methods during interrogations to extract “confessions” or other information, or sometimes as punishment for their perceived opposition to Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to Amnesty.

Some prisoners had their fingernails or toenails pulled out, while some were scalded with hot water. Others spoke of being forced into a rubber tire or having the soles of their feet flogged.

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Shiyar, a journalist, told Amnesty he was burnt with cigarettes after being beaten by Military Intelligence in 2013.

Amnesty also said access to food, water and sanitation facilities were severely restricted leading to widespread disease among the prison populations.

“They treated us like animals. They wanted people to be as inhuman as possible … I saw the blood, it was like a river … I never imagined humanity would reach such a low level … they would have had no problem killing us right there and then,” said Samer, a lawyer arrested near Hama.

The report includes a video reconstruction of the notorious Saydnaya Military Prison where many of the survivors’ were held under brutal conditions.

“In Saydnaya, the architecture of the prison emerges not only as a location of torture, but itself as an instrument of perpetration,” the group says in newly-released video.

The abuses began in March 2011 with the start of the civil war in Syria after an armed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. The on-going conflict has killed nearly 500,000 people and displaced more than 11 million Syrians from their homes.

Amnesty urged foreign governments, in particular Russia and the United States, to pressure the Syrian authorities and armed groups to end the use of torture and mis-treatment.

“The catalogue of horror stories featured in this report depicts in gruesome detail the dreadful abuse detainees routinely suffer from the moment of their arrest, through their interrogation and detention behind the closed doors of Syria’s notorious intelligence facilities,” Philip Luther, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program, said in a statement. “Those responsible for these heinous crimes must be brought to justice.”