大赦国际报告披露叙利亚监狱折磨政治犯恐怖细节

AS IT IS 2016-08-21 Amnesty Report on Syrian Prisons Details ‘Catalog of Horror’ 大赦国际报告披露叙利亚监狱折磨政治犯恐怖细节

A new Amnesty International report says survivors¹ tell of the torture of tens of thousands of political prisoners in Syria.

The report also estimates more than 17,000 people died or were killed in Syrian military prisons between March 2011 and December 2015.

An uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011. This led to a civil war that continues today.

Charges in the report, called “It Breaks the Human,” were based on interviews with 65 torture survivors. Most witnesses told Amnesty they had seen at least one death while in prison.

Prison 'horror'

The Director of Amnesty International for the Middle East and North Africa, Philip Luther, called the report a “catalog of horror stories.”

“For decades, Syrian government forces have used torture as a means to crush their opponents,” Luther said. “Today, it is being carried out as part of a systematic² and widespread attack directed against anyone suspected of opposing the government in the civilian³ population and amounts to crimes against humanity.”

Syrian authorities have denied the charges.

The report said that abuses increased at the start of the Syrian uprising. “…Anyone perceived to oppose the government is at risk of arbitrary detention⁴, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearance⁵ and death in custody,” it said.

Torture during interrogations

Most detainees told Amnesty they experienced torture and other ill-treatment during almost all interrogations. The torture described included beatings, electric shock, psychological abuse and other methods.

Amnesty Syria expert Claudia Scheufler helped put the report together. She said there is much more torture now than there was in the past.

“I was looking through one of our old reports from 1987. And the torture methods that we documented then are actually scarily similar to the ones that we have documented now, but obviously the scale has changed dramatically.”

Sexual assaults were also reported by men and women prisoners. Witnesses said some of the sexual violence happened during so-called “security checks” conducted on new detainees.

The report said many beating survivors were kept alongside others who died. Witnesses said guards kept wounded prisoners in cramped⁶, unsanitary facilities with no medical care.

“[They were] hitting me everywhere… After they were done beating me with the wooden sticks, they took the cigarettes. They were putting them out all over my body. It felt like a knife excavating⁷ my body, cutting me apart,” said one witness.

A lawyer detainee told his story: “They treated us like animals. They wanted people to be as inhuman⁸ as possible… I saw the blood, it was like a river… I never imagined humanity would reach such a low level… they would have had no problem killing⁹ us right there and then.”

Nadim Shehadi, from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy¹⁰, said the report tells of the Syrian government’s long and brutal¹¹ history.

“For most Syrians, Palmyra prison was where the Syrian regime perfected torture. Where people were held in the thousands, where they were forgotten. And the saying in Palmyra was that the lucky ones were dead, because life was made so horrible by the brutality¹² of the prison.”

Call for action

Amnesty urged the international community – specifically the United States and Russia - to put greatest importance on human rights abuses in any peace negotiations¹³ with Syrian authorities.

Words in This Story

catalog – n. a series of documented bad events

systematic - adj. using a careful system or method or done according to a system

perceived – adj. thought of in a particular way

arbitrary – adj. not based on a system of principles, unfair

interrogation – n. to ask someone a lot of questions, often with great force

unsanitary – adj. dirty, especially in a way that is dangerous to health

scarily - adv. done in a manner that causes fear

excavate¹⁴ – v. to dig into or make a hole

brutal – adj. extremely cruel, harsh or violent

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

5 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

6 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

7 excavating   

v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• A bulldozer was employed for excavating the foundations of the building. 推土机用来给楼房挖地基。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs. 一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。 来自辞典例句

8 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

11 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

12 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

13 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

14 excavate   

vt.挖掘，挖出

参考例句：

• They plan to excavate a large hole.他们计划挖个大洞。
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs.一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。