Since the beginning of anti-government protests in 2011, the Syrian government has arrested thousands of people, allegedly subjecting them to torture and imprisonment without due process.
A disturbing report released by the Human Rights Commission offers terrifying glimpses into the torture in these prisons. One prisoner tells the HRC:
"The guards hung me by my wrists from the ceiling for eight days. After a few days of hanging, being denied sleep, it felt like my brain stopped working. I was imagining things. My feet got swollen on the third day. I felt pain that I have never felt in my entire life. It was excruciating. I screamed that I needed to go to a hospital, but the guards just laughed at me."
Here's a graph showing how many prisoners are crammed into one cell compared with maximum occupancy in Europe:
And some terrifying stories and sketches:
The HRW also released a call to action for countries who can intervene.
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