Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic documents arbitrary detentions, torture and enforced disappearances

DARAMSUQ — The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic has released a new report “Web of Agony”, documenting grave human rights violations in the detention centers of the former Syrian Ba’ath regime. The report is based on over 2,000 testimonies, including 550 interviews with survivors of torture. 

The 114-page report exposes crimes against humanity and war crimes on a vast scale and how “Syrian civilians have been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, enforced disappearances and related violations in order to quash dissent and erode opposition to the government led by former President Assad.”  

It provides a comprehensive analysis of systematic torture cases and emphasizes the necessity of preserving evidence, including mass graves, to ensure accountability for perpetrators. It also calls on the transitional government in Syria to cooperate with international mechanisms.
The report exposes severe torture, including severe beatings, electric shocks, medical neglect, sexual violence, and psychological torture by the different regime Intelligence branches, the police, and army. Survivors documented how injured detainees were left to die slowly due to neglect and malnutrition under harsh detention conditions lacking the most basic necessities of life. 

The Commission has announced it will continue its investigation after the interim government granted it permission to enter the country for the first time since 2011. The visits included detention centers and mass graves in Daramsuq (Damascus), such as Sednaya Prison and the Palestine Branch, where significant evidence was found despite attempts to destroy them.

Enforced Disappearances

Among the missing persons are the former leader of the Syriac Union Party Saeed Malki, who has been missing since 12 August 2013, after being arrested in Zalin (Qamishli) by the former Syrian Ba’ath regime, and the two archbishops of Holeb (Aleppo) Youhanna Ibrahim (Syriac Orthodox) and Boulos Yazji (Greek Orthodox-Rûm). Their disappearance on 22 April 2013, remains unsolved to this day, but is attributed by many to the former regime.

Since the takeover of government by the Islamic group of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, there has been no news about the fate of the three men. This despite the fact that thousands of prisoners have been freed from Bashar al-Assad’s torture prisons.