The Media spokesperson of the Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) commented on the statement made by Judge Amer al-Khateeb the ex-president of the state’s council and the president of the Supreme Administrative Court in which he disclosed that he was subjected to both physical and moral torture during the period of interrogation at the branch of political security. The spokesman said that this is a new and undoubtedly clear proof on the practise of torture by the intelligence and security authorities in Syria.

The Spokesman added that:’ Human honour is not respected in Syria, and all citizens have become hostages at the mercy of the ruling regime, even those who have served the regime sincerely will be sacrificed at a definite time to serve its interest or continuity. For such aim, the regime is ready to subject citizens to brutal torture, to disappear in prisons or to be obliged to commit.

The Spokesman referred that in their response to the latest UN human rights committee report on human rights in Syria, the Syrian authorities denied any practise of torture in the Syrian interrogation centres or prisons, claiming that the Syrian Constitution prohibits the use of torture, and punishes those who practise torture. However, all indications and evidences prove the use of torture on the widest scale for the slightest reason. Torture is being used routinely and systematically, even though the president of the Supreme Administrative Court is not saved from torture regardless to the charges deposited against him.

Concluding his statement, the spokesman requests the president Bashar al-Asad and his security apparatus to give due respect to the Syrians’ honour, to terminate all forms of physical and moral torture and to respect the international covenants endorsed by Syria and which prohibits the use of torture.

The Syrian Human Rights Committee
27/11/2006