Political prisoners tortured at central Hama prison in Syria

Syrian detainee, released in a deal with the Assad regime, said that political detainees are tortured at Hama central prison by guards loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

“The guards are authorized to use different torture methods. They are difficult to explain," Mazin al-Hamawi said. “The regime ordered all methods of torture to be used on detainees," he said. “There was nothing to eat or to drink inside the prison. We had no electricity."

Earlier in May, prisoners took guards hostage to halt the transfer of political inmates to another facility where they believed they might be executed. One hundred and fifty-four prisoners were released after a deal was reached with the Syrian government to end the prison mutiny.

“The regime transferred many other prisoners to Sednaya prison near Damascus. They cut their communication with us. The regime does not want them to speak with younger detainees," he said.

Hamawi said that he was held at the prison for four years. “They held me under detention for speaking to people outside the country on the phone. That's all I was detained for. Like me, there were many others held without being charged," he said.

According to Hamawi, it was impossible to understand whether Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar intended to reach a deal with the detainees. “They were saying 100 to 200 detainees would be released in return for guards in captivity. Our aim was to ensure all 490 prison inmates were released. At first 70 of them would have been freed. But it did not happen."

“After the release of a large group, the remaining detainees were released in groups of 15 and 12 and smaller groups including 10 and seven detainees respectively," he added.