New documentary exposes torture in Syria

On 23 March Channel 4 will screen a documentary on torture and detention – the two are synonymous in Syria.

The documentary, Syria’s Disappeared: The Case against Assad, contains graphic images of starved, mangled and tortured bodies, reminiscent of photos of concentration camp victims.

The photos, taken by a military police photographer known now as Caesar who became sickened by his task, were smuggled out of Syria. These are not just a few images – there are thousands of them. The documentary features just a few, and horrible although they are, they are apparently not the worst.

The photos are not the only evidence of the brutality of the Assad regime. The regime is deeply hierarchical and bureaucratic, documenting every prisoner, every torture inflicted, every death recorded in the prison system. The documents are secret but since there are so many, even a relative few tell of the cruelty and depravity authorised by the top echelons of the regime.

And now, after a laborious and clandestine operation, criminal investigators have access to copious documents – 700,000 pages to be exact – and the total is rising as more are smuggled out of Syria. Criminal investigators, based at a secret location, are using the documents to put together a comprehensive case of massive human rights violations committed by the Assad regime, which it is hoped will one day bring the violators to justice.

The photos are not the only evidence of the brutality of the Assad regime. The regime is deeply hierarchical and bureaucratic, documenting every prisoner, every torture inflicted, every death recorded in the prison system. The documents are secret but since there are so many, even a relative few tell of the cruelty and depravity authorised by the top echelons of the regime.

As well as extensive photos and documents are enough, survivors are on film speaking out. These, of course, are the ones who escaped to find sanctuary outside Syria. Listen to the former prisoner brutally tortured, the hospital official who could no longer bear witnessing the torture, the grieving mother who spent months begging for information on her son at the prison complex, only to discover he had been killed after a few days’ imprisonment.

To say this story is shocking is accurate but says very little. The survivors, and those helping them, such as Syrian lawyer, Mazen Dawish, American lawyer and former US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen Rapp, and international criminal investigator, Bill Wiley, say that it is vital that the abusers, principally the Assad government but also armed opposition and terrorist groups, must be held to account. That’s why evidence, written and photographic, and torture survivor witness accounts, must be recorded and preserved.

Only a relatively small number of Syrians have been granted refuge in the UK. Most of the recent arrivals have come through the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme, which had admitted 4,400 refugees up to the end of 2016. Over half of these refugees are survivors of torture, and although they are being offered a package of housing and other services, this does not include the specialist therapeutic and psychological support many will need to overcome their trauma.

We have supported Syrians who have fled the country to escape not only the torture highlighted in this documentary but also from the past 40 years of human rights abuses in Syria. Sadly, as the current conflict continues the numbers of those who have been brutally tortured is likely to continue rising at a horrifying rate.

Only a relatively small number of Syrians have been granted refuge in the UK. Most of the recent arrivals have come through the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme, which had admitted 4,400 refugees up to the end of 2016. Over half of these refugees are survivors of torture, and although they are being offered a package of housing and other services, this does not include the specialist therapeutic and psychological support many will need to overcome their trauma.