A sketch of a detainee being hung from the ceiling by his wrists and beaten, a common torture technique in Syria. All Rights Reserved. The Syrian people, meanwhile, are being subjected to ever-graver atrocities, most having nothing to do with poison gas.
Lavrov may provide some answers. The media and human rights groups have documented a raft of brutal torture methods deployed by government forces, including electrocution; beatings with batons, cables, and whips; mock execution; burning detainees with battery acid, and ripping out facial hair.
We made them suck their own blood off the floor. At times, rebel forces have resorted to torture, too. Liwa Asifat al-Shamal, an anti-government faction north of Allepo, runs a person prison where, according to the UN, detainees are stuffed in roughly four-foot holes and covered with sheet metal for two days at a stretch.
According to the UN, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad routinely rape or threaten to rape women, men, and children whom they suspect have ties to rebelsβusually during raids, at checkpoints, and in detention centers.
The threat of rape is also used in intelligence gathering. A nurse held at a police station in Damascus was threatened with gang rape if she failed to reveal whom she was treating. Contrary to claims from the Assad regime, which has blamed rebels for many of the atrocities, the UN commission found that pro-Assad forces were responsible for at least 8 massacres.
