Syria: Political Detainees Tortured, Killed by Regime | Human Rights Watch

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  Mazen Darwish, Hussein Gharir, and Hani Zaitani
  © Private 2013

Behind the awful brutality of the fighting in Syria is the unseen abuse of political detainees – arrested, tortured, and even killed for peacefully criticizing the government or helping people in need. Arbitrary detention and torture have become business as usual for Syrian security forces.

Joe Stork, acting Middle East and North Africa director

(New York) – The Syrian government is unlawfully holding tens of thousands of political detainees solely on the basis of their peaceful activity, Human Rights Watch said today in opening a campaign to cast light on their fate. Many have been held for long periods and tortured.

The Human Rights Watch campaign, Inside the Black Hole, tells the individual stories of 21 Syrians who have been detained by the government since the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011. All have been detained solely for exercising their rights to free expression and peaceful assemblyor for providing medical care to people injured at protests and shelter to people displaced by the conflict. The government should drop charges against political detainees who are before the military field courts and the Counterterrorism Court set up in July 2012.............

 
FULL ARTICLE HERE: Syria: Political Detainees Tortured, Killed | Human Rights Watch