Syria crisis: Living with the mental scars of torture
Three storeys below ground in a concrete block in central Damascus, Omar Jibaii was shovelled into the darkness in a 7x4m (23x13ft) room. It was suffocating, with no window or access to air, the confined space shared by 100 other frightened people - one room in a complex of rooms in Syria's largest detention centre.
But in a way, Omar was lucky. He was not tortured and managed to get released after a relatively short time. He used to serve in the army and belongs to the Druze minority group. "Others, who are mainly of Sunni background, were tortured on a daily basis," he said.
Omar kept recalling a painful memory of a 13-year-old boy from the southern city of Deraa. "They used to hang him from his hands and torture him for eight hours on a daily basis," Omar said. "I wished he'd die and be relieved from the pain. They used to hit his head against the iron door and I would think he would pass out, but he never did."
Human rights organisations in Syria have documented the arbitrary detention of tens of thousands of people, including women, children and the elderly. For many, death from bombardments would have been preferable to the conditions inside prison.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28837290
