Torture victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch – while predominantly young men – included women, children and the elderly. Through mid-June 2012, according local activists, 635 children and 319 women were detained. At least twelve children were tortured. The conditions of detention were described as raw and inhumane – extreme overcrowding, inadequate food, and denial of medical care. Human Rights Watch documented more than 20 different methods of torture used, including prolonged beatings with such objects as batons and wires; painful stress positions; the use of electricity; burning with car battery acid; sexual assault and humiliation; the pulling of fingernails; and mock execution. Most of the detentions documented in the report were carried out during and immediately following anti-government protests; in the course of large-scale “sweep” operations conducted house-to-house; at road checkpoints; and in raids on the homes of “wanted” individuals (whose relatives might be detained instead if the targets were not there) – usually without legal justification. Raids were often accompanied by looting and property destruction, and by beatings – actions usually ordered, authorized or condoned by commanding officers. Interrogators and officers usually demanded detainees confess to participating in anti-Assad demonstrations. They also asked for names of other demonstrators and organizers, or information about alleged support from abroad. But many ex-detainees believe the torture was inflicted merely to punish and intimidate those being held. “Syrians have been under the iron hand of the Assad family for decades, and the report documents some of the atrocities that have taken place, which explains why, several diplomats have argued, it has been difficult for the opposition to organize,” Falk reports.
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