Documented by SNHR

The central prison in Aleppo contains more than 4,600 detainees, most of them political prisoners, human rights activists and media activists, in addition to felonies’ arrest.

Among the 4,600 prisoners, there are at least 1,300 political, media activist, or human rights activists who although finished serving arbitrary prison terms imposed by court, they remain in detention and no one is set to be released.

Prison management committed severe torturing and humiliating methods, such as holding dozens in very tight rooms, and another torture method that SNHR issued different reports on.  All that pushed the detainees to participate in acts of civil disobedience on July 2012.  Prison management replied to the disobedience with sit-firing directly at the political and media activists section, it led to many injuries among them.

After the disobedience, prison management punished detainees by totally preventing visits, increased torture, and reduce food and medicine quantities.

Armed rebel made a decision in 13 May 2013 to release all detainees in Aleppo central prison, started military operation by the name: “releasing prisoners,” and began besieging the prison and attacked it.

When the detainees heard the news, they carried out Intractability inside the prison, where the security forces attacked them and fired live bullets against them, it led to the deaths of 2 victims directly and more than 60 injuries, most of them killed later on different periods due to the lack of medicine and any treatment.

On 31 May 2013, and as a reaction of that intractability, prison management executed 49 political detainees:

The following link contains all names and details of Aleppo Central Prion’s Victims, that SNHR could document they are 60 prisoners, the real number is much higher, but because of communication difficulties we only could have these names:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9Bj18tlYYKBQVhtUnFtYUx3SUU/edit?usp=sharing 

Then, prison troops collected detainees’ bodies, who were killed inside cells, after the smell intensified and led to the spread of epidemics, and buried the bodies in a cemetery known to all prisoners who testified that it’s located in the eastern yard of the prison.

A large number of diseases spread inside the prison, due to the prevention of medicine which mostly was provided by prisoner’s families who visited their sons, the severity of diseases increased because of the lack of food and hygiene, SNHR estimated the number of prisons infected with Tuberculosis with more than 200 infected, 7 of them dead because of the lack of treatment.

Poisoned conditions accompanied with severe vomiting and diarrhea also appeared among prisoners, we knew that it was caused by the contamination of water tanks that were not cleaned or sterilized for more than 4 months and was filled with plankton, dirt, and worms.

In addition to all of these, prison troops starved prisoners, where they gave every prisoner only 150 grams of flour daily, then they reduced it to 73 grams.  It led the prisoners to collect their shares together and burn the plastic covers to cook the flour, so they could eat it, but it caused suffocation and acute respiratory infections due to thick smoke.

Monday 24 June 2013, and after an agreement between Free Syrian Army and Prison Troops through ICRC in order to provide cooked food to the besieged prison, where 11 cars carrying cooked food went to the prison, prison troops betrayed the agreement and shot the cars, it led to the injuries of Dr. Yaser Kaias in addition to another 5 paramedics.

Legal conclusions:

Art 3. In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following
provisions:

1) )Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria. To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:

(D) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording. And all the judicial guarantees civilized peoples.

Based on the forgoing we note that the Syrian Government, by arresting civilians or armed had blatantly violated both international humanitarian law, the Geneva Convention III, and the international law of Human Rights.

Recommendations:

Syrian Government:

1-             Immediate termination of all human rights violations

2-             Respect its international obligations of Protection Civilian in Time of War, and respect the rules of international humanitarian law and international law of human rights

Human Rights Council:

1-       Pay more serious attention to the catastrophic situation of detainees in Syria

2-       Demand the Security Council and the concerned international institutions to hold their responsibilities towards this serious matter

3-      Pressure on the Syrian Government Troops to stop torturing and unlock the prisons and detention centers to see detainees and understand their conditions

4-      Hold allies and supporters of the Syrian Government Troops: Russia, Iran, and China, morally and physically responsible for what is happening to the Syrian people

Security Council:

1-      Decision to refer all the criminals and the involved to ICC

2-      Warn the Syrian Government Troops of the repercussions of using brutal methods on the stability of civil peace and coexistence between the people of the same society

Arab League:

1-      Demand the Human Rights Council and United Nations to give this serious issue the right attention and follow up.

2-      Political and diplomatic pressure on the Syrian Government Troops’ main allies – Russia, Iran and China – to prevent them from continuously providing cover and international and political protection for all the crimes committed against the Syrian people and hold them morally and physically responsible for all the excesses of the Syrian Government Troops

3-      Serious attention of this case and give it high priority, and try to take care of victims psychologically, physically, and educationally