BALADI NEWS
Besides facing torture, many prisoners in Syrian jails are subjected to pay huge bribes in exchange of their freedom, say ex-prisoners.
In an interview with Anadolu Agency Hisham, 50, that her family paid a bribe of 500,000 Syrian liras (about $10,000) to one of the members of the Assad family for his release.
Recalling inhumane torture and cruelties he witnessed, during his imprisonment at various detention centers in Aleppo, Damascus, Homs and Idlib, Hisam said he had suffered heart attack, as he could not bear the severe torture. He was accused of supporting Syrian military opposition.
“There were cockroaches in the bread, which they gave to prisoners. I lost 17 pounds in four months,” he said.
Hisam was forced to take refuge in Turkey with his wife and children in September 2011, due to the civil war in Syria, which had broken out a few months earlier.
When she returned to Syria to fetch documents necessary to enroll his children in Turkish schools, he was detained by the regime forces at the border gate in Idlib.
A year after his release, he returned to Turkey to live with his family.
According to the International Conscience Movement, an NGO, more than 13,500 women have been jailed since the Syrian conflict began, while more than 7,000 women remain in detention, where they are subjected to torture, rape and sexual violence.
The movement is an alliance of individuals, rights groups and organizations aiming to secure urgent action for the release of women and children in the prisons of the Syrian regime.
Source: Yeni Safak.