Syria’s military hospital where detainees were tortured, not treated

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Former detainee in Sednaya Mohammed Najib sits across from a discarded portrait of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, in front of a facility which was used as a jail for the Tishreen Military Hospital, currently out of service, in Damascus on January 10, 2025. (AFP)
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Former detainees in Sednaya Osama Abdul Latif (L) and Mohammed Najib revisit a cell at a facility which was used as a jail for the Tishreen Military Hospital, currently out of service, in Damascus on January 10, 2025. (AFP)
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Former detainee in Sednaya Omar al-Masri revisits a cell at a facility which was used as a jail for the Tishreen Military Hospital, currently out of service, in Damascus on January 10, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 22 January 2025
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Syria’s military hospital where detainees were tortured, not treated

DAMASCUS: Former Syrian detainee Mohammed Najib has suffered for years from torture-induced back pain. Yet he dreaded being taken by his jailers to a military hospital, where he received beatings instead of treatment.
The prison guards forbade him from revealing his condition, only sending him to hospital for his likely tuberculosis symptoms — widespread in the notorious Saydnaya prison where he was detained.
Doctors at Tishreen Hospital, the largest military health facility in Damascus, never inquired about the hunch on his back — the result of sustained abuse.
Freed just hours after the fall of Bashar Assad, Najib has a tennis ball-sized bulge on his lower back.
The 31-year-old can barely walk, and the pain is unbearable.
But he insisted on showing AFP around a jail in the military hospital compound.
“I hated being brought here,” Najib said as he returned with two friends who had shared the same cell with him after they were accused of ties to the armed rebellion that sought Assad’s overthrow.
“They hit us all the time, and because I couldn’t walk easily, they hit me” even more, he said, referring the guards.
Because he was never allowed to say he had anything more than the tuberculosis symptoms of “diarrhea and fever,” he never received proper treatment.
“I went back and forth for nothing,” he said.
Assad fled Syria last month after Islamist-led rebels wrested city after city from his control until Damascus fell, ending his family’s five-decade rule.
The Assads left behind a harrowing legacy of abuse at detention facilities that were sites of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances.
Hours after Assad fled, Syrian rebels broke into the notorious Saydnaya prison, freeing thousands, some there since the 1980s.
Since then, Tishreen Hospital has been out of service pending an investigation.

NEGLECT AND TORTURE
Human rights advocates say Syria’s military hospitals, most notably Tishreen, have a record of neglect and ill-treatment.
“Some medical practitioners that were in some of these military hospitals (were) assisting... interrogations and torture, and maybe even withholding treatments to detainees,” Hanny Megally of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria told AFP.
Former Saydnaya detainees told AFP about the ordeals they went through after they got sick.
It would begin with a routine examination by two of the jail’s military doctors.
One of them used to beat prisoners, sometimes to death, four ex-detainees said.
Guards relentlessly beat them from the moment they were pulled from their cells to the hospital jail, then to its main building to meet the doctors, and finally escorted back to prison.
At the hospital’s jail, those who were too ill were left to die or even killed, several former detainees said.
Three years ago, Najib and other inmates were tortured using the “tyre” method inside Saydnaya for merely talking to each other.
They were forced into vehicle tires and beaten with their foreheads against their knees or ankles.
After a first check-up by a military doctor at Saydnaya, Najib was prescribed painkillers for his back pain.
The doctor eventually accepted to transfer him to Tishreen Hospital for tuberculosis symptoms.
Former prisoners said guards looking to minimize their workload would order them to say they suffered from “diarrhea and fever” so they could transfer everyone to the same department.
When Omar Al-Masri, 39, was taken to the hospital with a torture-induced leg injury, he too told a doctor he had an upset stomach and a fever.
While he was awaiting treatment, a guard ordered him to “clean” a very sick inmate.
Masri wiped the prisoner’s face and body, yet when the guard returned, he angrily repeated the same order: “Clean him.”
As Masri repeated the task, the sick prisoner soon took his last breath. An agitated Masri called out to the guard who gave him a chilling response: “Well done.”
“That is when I learnt that by ‘clean him’, he meant ‘kill him’,” he said.
According to a 2023 report by the Association of Detainees and the Missing in Sednaya Prison, security forces at the hospital jail and even medical and administrative staff inflicted physical and psychological violence on detainees.
A civilian doctor told AFP she and other medical staff at Tishreen were under strict orders to keep conversations with prisoners to a minimum.
“We weren’t allowed to ask what the prisoner’s name was or learn anything about them,” she said, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals.
She said that despite reports about ill treatment at the hospital, she had not witnessed it herself.
But even if a doctor was courageous enough to ask about a prisoner’s name, the scared detainee would only give the number assigned to him by the guards.
“They weren’t allowed to speak,” she said.
After a beating in his Saydnaya cell, Osama Abdul Latif’s ribs were broken, but the prison doctors only transferred him to the hospital four months later with a large protrusion on his side.
Abdul Latif and other detainees had to stack the bodies of three fellow inmates into the transfer vehicle and unloaded them at Tishreen hospital.
“I was jailed for five years,” Abdul Latif said.
But “250 years wouldn’t be enough to talk about all the suffering” he endured.


Bahraini national security advisor and UK military chief discuss defense cooperation

Updated 8 sec ago
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Bahraini national security advisor and UK military chief discuss defense cooperation

  • Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa highlights strong ties between the nations, especially defense and military cooperation
  • His talks with Adm. Tony Radakin, Britain’s chief of defense staff, cover long-term defense partnerships, regional security and stability, and counterterrorism efforts

LONDON: Bahrain’s national security advisor, Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, met Adm. Tony Radakin, the UK’s chief of defense staff in London on Wednesday.

They discussed ways in which military cooperation between their countries might be enhanced, and the importance of long-term defense partnerships in efforts to ensure regional security and stability, the Bahrain News Agency reported.

Sheikh Nasser highlighted the existing strong ties between Bahrain and the UK, especially in terms of defense and military cooperation. He and Radakin addressed regional security challenges, focusing in particular on counterterrorism cooperation and maritime security in the Arabian Gulf region, and the need for joint military exercises and the coordination of multinational operations.

They also discussed the enhancement of Gulf security through maritime and air alliances, and aerial defense collaboration, the news agency added.


Lebanon rejects further Israeli delay in withdrawing forces from southern areas

Updated 23 min 23 sec ago
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Lebanon rejects further Israeli delay in withdrawing forces from southern areas

  • Israeli army is asking to remain in some border areas until Feb. 28
  • Lebanon informs overseeing committee of firm rejection to request

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday called on Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel to “ensure the EU countries pressure Israel to complete its withdrawal from the southern border area within the set deadline of the 18th of this month.”

Aoun said that “Lebanon supports the Arab Peace Initiative and rejects any proposals that would lead to any form of Palestinian displacement from their land or undermine their legitimate rights as enshrined in United Nations resolutions.”

Six days before the full withdrawal of Israeli forces that had advanced into southern Lebanon — following a 24-day extension of the withdrawal deadline, with US approval — the committee overseeing the monitoring of the ceasefire and the implementation of Resolution 1701 was informed that the Israeli army is asking to remain in some border areas until Feb. 28. Lebanon however, has informed the committee of its firm rejection of this request.

Morgan Ortagus, US deputy ambassador for the Middle East, is expected to return to Beirut on a second visit as part of her current mission to follow up on the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon on Feb. 18.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a recent meeting at the White House asked US President Donald Trump to delay the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanon for a few weeks.

Additionally, he sought to maintain Israeli control over five key hills: Jabal Blat, Labouneh, Aziziyah, Awida, and Hamames.

Lebanon’s efforts to ensure Israel’s complete withdrawal from its territory by the specified deadline are accompanied by a proposal for UNIFIL forces to be stationed in coordination with the Lebanese army to take control of the said hills.

Maj. Gen. Hassan Ouda, acting chief of Lebanon's army, met Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, commander of UNIFIL, and their “discussions focused on the efforts being made to implement Resolution 1701,” according to an army statement.

The authorities in Lebanon are awaiting the Trump administration to fulfill its commitment regarding the scheduled withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Last week, Ortagus said in a statement from Beirut that her country “is dedicated to ensuring that Israel completes its withdrawal on the specified timeline.”

Meanwhile, Avichay Adraee, spokesperson for the Israeli military, issued an urgent warning on social media to the residents of southern Lebanon.

“The Israeli army remains deployed in the field following the extension of the agreement’s implementation period. Therefore, you are prohibited from moving south or returning to your homes in the areas in question until further notice. Anyone attempting to move south is at risk,” he posted.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces continued bombing border villages in the eastern and central Gaza Strip and set houses ablaze.

Additionally, Israeli forces carried out bulldozing operations on the outskirts of the town of Al-Dahira and used cranes to install concrete slabs at the technical fence of the Blue Line.

Also on Wednesday, a young man, identified as Khalil Fayyad, succumbed to gunshot wounds inflicted by Israeli forces on Jan. 26 in his hometown of Aitaroun during residents’ attempts to return to the town.


Egypt’s El-Sisi, Jordan king stress ‘unity’ of positions on Gaza: Egypt presidency

Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. (File/AFP)
Updated 3 min 50 sec ago
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Egypt’s El-Sisi, Jordan king stress ‘unity’ of positions on Gaza: Egypt presidency

  • Leaders affirmed the “unity of the Egyptian and Jordanian positions,” on the reconstruction of Gaza Strip, “without displacing the Palestinian people”: Statement

CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II stressed Wednesday the “unity” of their countries’ positions on Gaza, a day after US President Donald Trump held talks with the Jordanian monarch in Washington.
“The two leaders affirmed the unity of the Egyptian and Jordanian positions,” on the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, “without displacing the Palestinian people from their land,” a statement from the Egyptian presidency read.
Another statement from the Jordanian royal court said that the two leaders stressed their “shared position” rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinians.
Both statements also referred to their willingness to “cooperate” with Trump to achieve “just and lasting peace” in the Middle East.
Egypt and Jordan have been at the forefront of a fierce Arab pushback against a Trump plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to the two countries.
Trump’s remarks have been coupled with a suggestion that he could “conceivably” halt aid to both countries if they refuse to take in Palestinians.
After his talks with Trump in Washington on Tuesday, King Abdullah II said that his country remains “steadfast” in its position against the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
“This is the unified Arab position,” Abdullah wrote on social media.
Egypt announced this week that it would host a summit of Arab nations later this month. It also said it would present a “comprehensive vision” for Gaza’s reconstruction in a way that ensures Palestinians remain on their land.
Egypt and Jordan, both key US allies, are heavily reliant on foreign aid and the US is considered one of their top donors.


124 journalists killed, most by Israel, in deadliest year for reporters

Updated 12 February 2025
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124 journalists killed, most by Israel, in deadliest year for reporters

  • Journalists murdered across 18 different countries in 2024, including Palestine, Sudan and Pakistan
  • Sudan and Pakistan record second-highest number of journalists and media workers killed, six each

NEW YORK: Last year was the deadliest for journalists in recent history, with at least 124 reporters killed — and Israel responsible for nearly 70 percent of that total, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Wednesday.
The uptick in killings, which marks a 22 percent increase over 2023, reflects “surging levels of international conflict, political unrest and criminality worldwide,” the CPJ said.
It was the deadliest year for reporters and media workers since CPJ began keeping records more than three decades ago, with journalists murdered across 18 different countries, it said.
A total of 85 journalists died in the Israeli-Hamas war, “all at the hands of the Israeli military,” the CPJ said, adding that 82 of them were Palestinians.
Sudan and Pakistan recorded the second highest number of journalists and media workers killed, with six each.
In Mexico, which has a reputation as one of the most dangerous countries for reporters, five were killed, with CPJ reporting it had found “persistent flaws” in Mexico’s mechanisms for protecting journalists.
And in Haiti, where two reporters were murdered, widespread violence and political instability have sown so much chaos that “gangs now openly claim responsibility for journalist killings,” the report said.
Other deaths took place in countries such as Myanmar, Mozambique, India and Iraq.
“Today is the most dangerous time to be a journalist in CPJ’s history,” said the group’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg.
“The war in Gaza is unprecedented in its impact on journalists and demonstrates a major deterioration in global norms on protecting journalists,” she said.
CPJ, which has kept records on journalist killings since 1992, said that 24 of the reporters were deliberately killed because of their work in 2024.
Freelancers, the report said, were among the most vulnerable because of their lack of resources, and accounted for 43 of the killings in 2024.
The year 2025 is not looking more promising, with six journalists already killed in the first weeks of the year, CPJ said.


124 journalists killed, most by Israel, in deadliest year for reporters

Updated 12 February 2025
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124 journalists killed, most by Israel, in deadliest year for reporters

  • The uptick in killings marks a 22 percent increase over 2023
  • Journalists murdered across 18 different countries, including Palestine's Gaza, Sudan and Pakistan

NEW YORK: Last year was the deadliest for journalists in recent history, with at least 124 reporters killed — and Israel responsible for nearly 70 percent of that total, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Wednesday.
The uptick in killings, which marks a 22 percent increase over 2023, reflects “surging levels of international conflict, political unrest and criminality worldwide,” the CPJ said.
It was the deadliest year for reporters and media workers since CPJ began keeping records more than three decades ago, with journalists murdered across 18 different countries, it said.
A total of 85 journalists died in the Israeli-Hamas war, “all at the hands of the Israeli military,” the CPJ said, adding that 82 of them were Palestinians.
Sudan and Pakistan recorded the second highest number of journalists and media workers killed, with six each.
In Mexico, which has a reputation as one of the most dangerous countries for reporters, five were killed, with CPJ reporting it had found “persistent flaws” in Mexico’s mechanisms for protecting journalists.
And in Haiti, where two reporters were murdered, widespread violence and political instability have sown so much chaos that “gangs now openly claim responsibility for journalist killings,” the report said.
Other deaths took place in countries such as Myanmar, Mozambique, India and Iraq.
“Today is the most dangerous time to be a journalist in CPJ’s history,” said the group’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg.
“The war in Gaza is unprecedented in its impact on journalists and demonstrates a major deterioration in global norms on protecting journalists,” she said.
CPJ, which has kept records on journalist killings since 1992, said that 24 of the reporters were deliberately killed because of their work in 2024.
Freelancers, the report said, were among the most vulnerable because of their lack of resources, and accounted for 43 of the killings in 2024.
The year 2025 is not looking more promising, with six journalists already killed in the first weeks of the year, CPJ said.