'Interrogators poured alcohol and burned my wounds'

By Salim Tas

HATAY, Turkey (AA) - A Syrian man jailed by the Bashar al-Assad regime allegedly for supplying medicine to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) still recalls unbearable torture and abuse he was subjected to in the interrogation centers.

Muhammed Dubasi, married with five children, told Anadolu Agency that he was working as a graphic designer and made a living by drawing pictures before the civil war started in Syria.

Dubasi, 49, spent two years in a very small cell after he was detained in Hama province in 2013.

“They stripped me off, chained my hands to the ceiling and beat me for hours during interrogation,” said Dubasi, recalling inhumane torture and cruelties.

Dubasi said he witnessed people dying every day in the dungeons due to torture.

“They poured alcohol and burned my wounds caused by torture,” he recalled.

After two years of torture in prison, Dubasi bailed out and came to Turkey's southern Hatay province where he rented a house to live together with his family.

Expressing his gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for supporting Syrian people who fled regime forces, Dubasi said: “God bless Turkey. We escaped death thanks to Turkey.”

Dubasi hoped that the blood and tears in Syria would end as soon as possible so that they can return home.

- Humanitarian crisis in Syria

Syria has been locked in a devastating conflict since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN figures, while women and children continue to bear the full brunt of the conflict.

According to the International Conscience Movement, an NGO, more than 13,500 women have been jailed since the Syrian conflict began, while more than 7,000 women remain in detention, where they are subjected to torture, rape and sexual violence.

The movement is an alliance of individuals, rights groups and organizations aiming to secure urgent action for the release of women and children in the prisons of the Syrian regime.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz