ISIS razes notorious Syrian prison in Tadmor

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group Saturday demolished Tadmor prison in the Syrian city of Palmyra, Britain-based Syrian Observatory Group for Human Rights said. The jail was "largely destroyed after ISIS planted explosives inside and around it," 10 days after the militants seized Palmyra from regime forces the group said. The prison is known with that regime dissidents have faced several human right violations, torture and abuses. Therefore "ISIS has wiped out evidence of the crimes of the Assad clan by blowing up the infamous Palmyra prison," said Syrian opposition member Mohammad Sarmini on Twitter. "Palmyra prison bears witness to the crimes of the century," an anti-Assad activist tweeted.

Tadmor prison was located in Tadmor, near Palmyra, in the deserts of eastern Syria. The prison was the military barracks of the French Army during the mandate. It became a prison after Hafez Al-Assad took over power in the country and the prison became famous in 1980 when the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood initiated large-scaled protests against the regime and attempted to overthrow Assad. Thousands of troops loyal to the regime entered the prison where political dissidents were held and executed hundreds of prisoners. The bodies were not returned to the families but were burnt in a valley near the prison. The prison was closed in 2001 but was reopened in 2011, after the anti-regime protests started.

Human Rights Watch Organization released several reports, condemning the torture and abuses in the prison. In a 1996 dated report, the group said "Tadmor military prison is located in the Palmyrene desert approximately 200 kilometers northeast of Damascus. The facility is exempt from oversight of the Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for the supervision of civil prisons. Tadmor is infamous throughout Syria not only for its harsh conditions but also for the depredations against civilian political prisoners that have occurred within its walls since 1980, such as torture and summary executions. Syrian poet Faraj Beraqdar, who has been detained as a political prisoner since March 1987 and was held in Tadmor for five years, from 1988 to 1992, described the prison as a ‘kingdom of death and madness.' "

"According to testimony obtained by Human Rights Watch/Middle East from former inmates, the part of Tadmor which used to house civilian political prisoners contains 42 one-story dormitories and smaller cells configured around seven courtyards. The courtyards are covered overhead with barbed wire, except Courtyards One and Two. Courtyard Five, heavily covered with barbed wire because the cells about the exterior wall, is flanked by 28 punishment cells on one side and rooms for "special cases" on the other. Dormitory Four, which opens to Courtyard One, is the largest, and was a theater when Tadmor was used as a barracks. "It still has the stage," a former prisoner told us. This dormitory, measuring about eight by 24 meters, typically held between 200 and 250 men. The dormitories surrounding Courtyard Seven were used to isolate prisoners with tuberculosis, beginning in 1985," the report said.

Another report on Tadmor, released by Amnesty International in 2001, said "Reports documented by Amnesty International indicate that political suspects have most frequently been tortured during the initial period following arrest while being held in incommunicado detention in prisons and detention centers throughout Syria. Torture has been used as a means of extracting information and also as a form of punishment. For example, detainees are commonly tortured when they arrive at a prison. The treatment they receive at that point, known as the "haflat al-istiqbal" or "reception party," differs from prison to prison and can range from verbal insults to kicking and punching, to more severe techniques such as using one or more of the methods mentioned below. The most common methods of torture reported to Amnesty International include beatings on all parts of the body; beating on the soles of the feet (falaqa); the "tyre" (dullab), which involves hanging the victim from a suspended tyre and beating him or her with sticks and cables; and repeatedly pouring cold water over the victim's body. Another method commonly reported is "the German Chair" (al-Kursi al-Almani), which involves the use of a metal chair with moving parts to which the victim is tied by the hands and feet. The backrest of the chair bends backwards, causing acute hyper-extension of the spine and severe pressure on the victim's neck and limbs. This makes breathing difficult, almost to the point of asphyxiation, and is reported to have resulted in loss of consciousness and, in some cases, fracturing of the vertebrae."