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Secret prison likely site of torture, killings
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Somewhere, underground, in the center of Damascus...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... lies one of the most notorious and mysterious prison complexes in the Syria, holding what activists say are hundreds if not thousands of political prisoners. The Human Rights Violations Documentation Center, a human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... activist group documenting the locked away Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! and killed in the Syrian conflict, released a new report Sunday detailing what is known about military branches of the army's 4th Division, the elite and most ruthless of the Syrian military divisions, headed by  Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... 's brother, Maher Assad. The VDC compiled the report based on testimony from former detainees, but admits little is known about the institutions and those being held there. The VDC says a number of military institutions have been converted to informal prisons, as prison space ran out over the course of a massive government arrest campaign after the outbreak of the uprising against Assad in March 2011. "Often detainees are directly held in the 4th Division premises after arrest, or they are transferred there later from air force intelligence branches," the report says. Among the most used, the VDC says, is the Paratrooper's Regiment 555 complex near the Soumariah bus interchange in Damascus. The exact location, the VDC says, is unknown, due to the fact that all those taken to this location have been blindfolded while transported to and from the facility. "None of the detainees who have been held in this center has a clear description on the place's geography, since everyone who was taken there has been blindfolded," said front man Bassam al-Ahmad, who was himself held captive on political activism charges in the building for some 30 days before fleeing the country. "From what we have been able to see from under the cloth and from the testimonies of others detained, we know it lies about 10-15 minutes from the Mezzah military intelligence division and about 1 km behind the Soumariah bus station," he told the Daily Star. Posted by: Fred 2013-04-15 |
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