Timecode Speaker Video Audio
00:07 Mohammed(subtitles) You are linked to terrorist organisations.
00:11 You are the biggest terrorist.
00:12 (caption) MohammedFarmer
00:14 I tell them I’m a shepherd.
00:16 You have to confess, whether you like it or not.You have to confess.
00:19 Ahmed(subtitles) He was shouting at me, ‘You want freedom? You want to topple the regime?’
00:21 Ahmed, 13Student
00:23 And he beat me.
00:25 They asked me, ‘What is your name? What is your father’s name?
00:30 Where are you from? Why did you join the protests?’
00:32 He showed me a video and said, ‘Isn’t that you?’ I said no and he beat me.
00:39 ‘Isn’t that you?’ No, he beat me.‘Isn’t that you?’ Yes, he beat me more.
00:44 Voiceover In a recent report, Human Rights watch said the crackdown by the Assad regime, including systematic torture of civilians in Homs, constitutes crimes against humanity.
00:55 From that region of Syria, three very different Syrian refugees speaking on condition of anonymity across the border in Lebanon give harrowing accounts of life and death inside the Assad regime’s torture dungeons.
01:10 Ahmed(subtitles) We were demanding freedom because in our country there is no freedom
01:14 There are no human rights, there’s nothing. Everything is oppressed.
01:18 The cells are full.
01:23 We have nothing that expresses freedom.
01:28 Freedom is freedom to express my opinion. For the school curriculum to be free.
01:36 When I’m studying I don’t want the curriculum to be about Hafez and Bashar.
01:41 The curriculum should include everything. But in Syria we feel sorry because we don’t have this.
01:49 I told him, ‘I’m a kid, why are you beating me?’
01:52 He said, ‘You’re young? So why are you in a demonstration?’
01:56 I told him, ‘To express my opinion.’ So he started to beat me more.
02:00 Mohammed(subtitles) The cell is underground.
02:02 The smell of garbage is better than the smell there.
02:11 The moment you smell it you vomit. I cannot describe it to you.
02:18 Voiceover Mohammed, a 30-year-old farmer from the countryside south of Homs, was arrested during an early August raid on his village, and interrogated and tortured for a month.
02:28 Mohammed(subtitles) You are blindfolded and handcuffed during the interrogation.
02:34 Then you have to put your fingerprint on a paper. You don’t know what it is.
02:37 You say, ‘I don’t know what I’m signing.’
02:40 They tell you that it’s none of your business and they beat you.
02:43 Ahmed (subtitles) When we were in the cell they started beating me.
02:48 They electrocuted me in my leg and in my chest.
02:54 I passed out for around ten minutes. More like quarter of an hour.
03:02 I felt my soul come back to me. Because I was tortured and I passed out.
03:08 I had passed out but I felt my soul come back to me. And I thanked God I didn’t die.
03:16 Abu Ali(subtitles) We have many methods. I can tell you about other methods.
03:20 Voiceover Abu Ali served for a decade in Syria’s much-feared military intelligence, spying on neighbours and locking up opponents of the regime.
03:29 Defecting from the army after being deployed to Homs, his home town, with orders to shoot to kill pro-democracy protesters, Abu Ali gives a terrifying account of the sadistic torture that was formerly a routine part of his job description.
03:45 Abu Ali(subtitles) There is electrocution, hitting the face, ripping nails out…
03:47 (caption) Abu AliFormer Intelligence Officer
03:52 Abu Ali(subtitles) …pulling hair out from the face, eyebrows, head or eyelashes.
03:59 We used to give a thirsty prisoner salty water. Once, twice, three times.
04:04 Then we’d give him pure water.
04:07 When he wanted to urinate we put a rubber band around his penis.
04:16 So, whatever you want, he’s ready to confess to it.
04:22 Ahmed(subtitles) They got the pliers and the screwdriver…
04:27 …they hammered the big toenail a couple of times with the screwdriver…
04:32 …until it became loose. Then they ripped it out with the pliers.
04:37 I started crying, because it was the ultimate pain.
04:46 Mohammed(subtitles) He took an electric prod and electrocuted me. I felt my head burning.
04:53 I fell to the ground and he got a bottle of water and threw it over me.
05:00 ‘Will you confess or not?’I said, ‘I don’t have anything to confess.
05:03 If I knew I would have told you.’
05:06 He threw water over me again and electrocuted me again.
05:08 There was a smell of burned flesh and my hair stood up.
05:13 There’s nothing you can do but pray to God to be released.
05:18 Voiceover Mohammed believes he was targeted by Assad’s security simply for being a Sunni Muslim, who are the majority of Syria’s population, ruled over by a regime drawn largely from the minority Alawite sect.
05:30 Mohammed(subtitles) He took the electric prod and electrocuted my testicles…
05:36 …saying, ‘That is to cull your race.’
05:40 It’s obviously sectarianism.
05:42 They can hear from the way you speak that you’re not Alawite.
05:47 It’s a kind of revenge.
05:49 Abu Ali(subtitles) I was living with thugs and security members. Some of them are my friends.
05:53 I know about the hatred they carry.
05:54 The regime planted sectarianism in them…
05:59 …from long before the revolution, from the 1970s.
06:04 Why? So they are loyal only to the regime.
06:08 To the highest God.
06:10 Mohammed(subtitles) They beat you to kill you, not to get a confession
06:14 Voiceover As well as deep psychological scars, Mohammed says he still passes blood in his urine and is unable to enjoy sex with his wife.
06:23 Mohammed(subtitles) If you’re killed by their hands you’re gone. If not, you’re left handicapped.
06:27 They torture you until you will never again say the word ‘demonstration’.
06:33 They want to make others behave after seeing you.
06:37 Ahmed(subtitles) When I want to go to sleep I remember in my dreams how they tortured me.
06:43 And whenever I’m sitting alone I remember and I start crying.
06:53 Abu Ali(subtitles) The torturers have only one problem with what they do
06:56 The person tortured to death has only one soul
07:00 They wish that a second soul could return to the body…
07:05 …so they can continue their torture and satisfy their hatred.
00:07 Mohammed(subtitles) You are linked to terrorist organisations.
00:11 You are the biggest terrorist.
00:12 (caption) MohammedFarmer
00:14 I tell them I’m a shepherd.
00:16 You have to confess, whether you like it or not.You have to confess.
00:19 Ahmed(subtitles) He was shouting at me, ‘You want freedom? You want to topple the regime?’
00:21 Ahmed, 13Student
00:23 And he beat me.
00:25 They asked me, ‘What is your name? What is your father’s name?
00:30 Where are you from? Why did you join the protests?’
00:32 He showed me a video and said, ‘Isn’t that you?’ I said no and he beat me.
00:39 ‘Isn’t that you?’ No, he beat me.‘Isn’t that you?’ Yes, he beat me more.
00:44 Voiceover In a recent report, Human Rights watch said the crackdown by the Assad regime, including systematic torture of civilians in Homs, constitutes crimes against humanity.
00:55 From that region of Syria, three very different Syrian refugees speaking on condition of anonymity across the border in Lebanon give harrowing accounts of life and death inside the Assad regime’s torture dungeons.
01:10 Ahmed(subtitles) We were demanding freedom because in our country there is no freedom
01:14 There are no human rights, there’s nothing. Everything is oppressed.
01:18 The cells are full.
01:23 We have nothing that expresses freedom.
01:28 Freedom is freedom to express my opinion. For the school curriculum to be free.
01:36 When I’m studying I don’t want the curriculum to be about Hafez and Bashar.
01:41 The curriculum should include everything. But in Syria we feel sorry because we don’t have this.
01:49 I told him, ‘I’m a kid, why are you beating me?’
01:52 He said, ‘You’re young? So why are you in a demonstration?’
01:56 I told him, ‘To express my opinion.’ So he started to beat me more.
02:00 Mohammed(subtitles) The cell is underground.
02:02 The smell of garbage is better than the smell there.
02:11 The moment you smell it you vomit. I cannot describe it to you.
02:18 Voiceover Mohammed, a 30-year-old farmer from the countryside south of Homs, was arrested during an early August raid on his village, and interrogated and tortured for a month.
02:28 Mohammed(subtitles) You are blindfolded and handcuffed during the interrogation.
02:34 Then you have to put your fingerprint on a paper. You don’t know what it is.
02:37 You say, ‘I don’t know what I’m signing.’
02:40 They tell you that it’s none of your business and they beat you.
02:43 Ahmed (subtitles) When we were in the cell they started beating me.
02:48 They electrocuted me in my leg and in my chest.
02:54 I passed out for around ten minutes. More like quarter of an hour.
03:02 I felt my soul come back to me. Because I was tortured and I passed out.
03:08 I had passed out but I felt my soul come back to me. And I thanked God I didn’t die.
03:16 Abu Ali(subtitles) We have many methods. I can tell you about other methods.
03:20 Voiceover Abu Ali served for a decade in Syria’s much-feared military intelligence, spying on neighbours and locking up opponents of the regime.
03:29 Defecting from the army after being deployed to Homs, his home town, with orders to shoot to kill pro-democracy protesters, Abu Ali gives a terrifying account of the sadistic torture that was formerly a routine part of his job description.
03:45 Abu Ali(subtitles) There is electrocution, hitting the face, ripping nails out…
03:47 (caption) Abu AliFormer Intelligence Officer
03:52 Abu Ali(subtitles) …pulling hair out from the face, eyebrows, head or eyelashes.
03:59 We used to give a thirsty prisoner salty water. Once, twice, three times.
04:04 Then we’d give him pure water.
04:07 When he wanted to urinate we put a rubber band around his penis.
04:16 So, whatever you want, he’s ready to confess to it.
04:22 Ahmed(subtitles) They got the pliers and the screwdriver…
04:27 …they hammered the big toenail a couple of times with the screwdriver…
04:32 …until it became loose. Then they ripped it out with the pliers.
04:37 I started crying, because it was the ultimate pain.
04:46 Mohammed(subtitles) He took an electric prod and electrocuted me. I felt my head burning.
04:53 I fell to the ground and he got a bottle of water and threw it over me.
05:00 ‘Will you confess or not?’I said, ‘I don’t have anything to confess.
05:03 If I knew I would have told you.’
05:06 He threw water over me again and electrocuted me again.
05:08 There was a smell of burned flesh and my hair stood up.
05:13 There’s nothing you can do but pray to God to be released.
05:18 Voiceover Mohammed believes he was targeted by Assad’s security simply for being a Sunni Muslim, who are the majority of Syria’s population, ruled over by a regime drawn largely from the minority Alawite sect.
05:30 Mohammed(subtitles) He took the electric prod and electrocuted my testicles…
05:36 …saying, ‘That is to cull your race.’
05:40 It’s obviously sectarianism.
05:42 They can hear from the way you speak that you’re not Alawite.
05:47 It’s a kind of revenge.
05:49 Abu Ali(subtitles) I was living with thugs and security members. Some of them are my friends.
05:53 I know about the hatred they carry.
05:54 The regime planted sectarianism in them…
05:59 …from long before the revolution, from the 1970s.
06:04 Why? So they are loyal only to the regime.
06:08 To the highest God.
06:10 Mohammed(subtitles) They beat you to kill you, not to get a confession
06:14 Voiceover As well as deep psychological scars, Mohammed says he still passes blood in his urine and is unable to enjoy sex with his wife.
06:23 Mohammed(subtitles) If you’re killed by their hands you’re gone. If not, you’re left handicapped.
06:27 They torture you until you will never again say the word ‘demonstration’.
06:33 They want to make others behave after seeing you.
06:37 Ahmed(subtitles) When I want to go to sleep I remember in my dreams how they tortured me.
06:43 And whenever I’m sitting alone I remember and I start crying.
06:53 Abu Ali(subtitles) The torturers have only one problem with what they do
06:56 The person tortured to death has only one soul
07:00 They wish that a second soul could return to the body…
07:05 …so they can continue their torture and satisfy their hatred.