Assad’s dungeons

by Nadim Houry May 3, 2011

written by Nadim Houry May 3, 2011

Marwan had trouble sitting down during our interview. He had bruises all over his body and bandages on his head from the beating security officers subjected him to during his two-day detention by the Amn Al Dawla — one of Syria’s notorious mukhabarat, or secret security services. His crime was participating in a peaceful protest in Douma on April 1, calling for reforms. Marwan’s case is not unique. Syria’s mukhabarat have detained more than a thousand anti-government protesters since mid-March and many of those recently released have reported that security forces tortured them in detention. Often, like Marwan, they have the scars to prove it. Particularly disturbing is the pervasiveness of ill treatment by security forces, the routine beatings, torture and humiliation that hundreds of protesters incurred in dozens of security detention facilities. Of the 22 released protesters interviewed by Human Rights Watch, almost all reported being beaten and tortured.

Nadim Houry

Nadim Houry is the executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI). Prior to ARI, Nadim was at Human Rights Watch (HRW) for 13 years where he started and ran HRW’s Beirut office for a decade before taking on the role of director of HRW’s Terrorism and Counter-terrorism Program. During his time at HRW, he worked across the MENA region, particularly on Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan on a range of human rights issues ranging from freedom of expression to abuses by security forces to labour rights. He has conducted extensive research in conflict zones and his writing often focuses on the themes of governance and accountability. A passionate advocate for change in the region, he has addressed the Security Council and the European Parliament on challenges in the Arab world. A lawyer by training, Nadim worked in the UN as Deputy Counsel for the Volcker Commission which conducted investigations into allegations of corruption into the Oil-for-Food Program in Iraq and was previously a lawyer.

Assad’s dungeons

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