Assad regime tortured 8,000 to death

After the Syrian regime’s years of silence about the fate of tens of thousands of people that rights groups say have been forcibly kidnapped in the war, authorities have begun quietly updating registers to acknowledge thousands of deaths.

Following the ongoing talks between Russia, Turkey and Iran in Astana to release detainees in regime prisons, Damascus released a list which stated that 8,000 civilians detained over the course of seven years were dead-- likely by torture-- including academicians, journalists and civil servants.

The regime has tried to conceal the massacre and torture by listing their cause of death as “heart attacks” and cited infectious diseases. Among the dead are 125 children and 63 women.

The listed names were registered in Aleppo, Homs, Daraa, Tartus, Idlib, Lattakia, Deir ez-zor, Raqqaa and Hasakah.

Syrian Opposition Commander General Adib Shelaf allegedly said that more than 200,000 civilians have been disappeared in detention facilities belonging to the Syrian regime and that at least 40,000 were tortured to death in jails.

Shelaf stated, “The Syrian regime decided to covertly de-register those who were detained during the Syrian civil war due to a groundswell of international pressure. The regime noted the cause of deaths on official records as either ‘heart attack’ or due to ‘infectious diseases.’”

Syria’s Zaman al-Wasl newspaper and the Violations Documentation Centre in Syria have reported names of 8,000 prisoners who were tortured to death over the past seven years in regime jails in July.

The number of deaths based on regions is as follows:

1- Damascus suburbs: 1856

2. Daraa: 1283

3. Homs: 1253

4. Damascus: 870

5. Hama: 762

6. Idlib: 585

7. Aleppo: 473

8. Deir Ezzor: 450

9. Latakia: 154

10. Quneitra: 110

11. Raqqa: 50

12. Hasaka: 44

13. Tartus: 28

14. Swaida: 23

Ten victims of non-Syrian nationalities, and two of the victims were not affiliated with any nationality.

The Astana peace talks, which were launched in January 2017 with the aim of putting an end to violence and improving the humanitarian situation in war-torn Syria by Iran, Russia and Turkey, is being considered as the sole solution to the end of the Syrian civil war.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura will have talks with Iran, Russia and Turkey representatives in September to draft a new Syrian constitution. According to a UN statement, Mistura held informal talks in Sochi with Russian, Iranian and Turkish representatives and received lists from the Assad regime and the opposition on proposed candidates for the Constitutional Committee on Tuesday.

The constitutional committee will include 50 people from “government, opposition representatives, Syrian experts, civil society, independents, tribal leaders and women.”

In addition to the formation of a constitutional committee, the 10th round of Syrian talks is focused on the latest situation in de-escalation zones in Idlib, the return of refugees, and the release of prisoners.

Officials from Turkey, Russian and Iran on Monday agreed to the mutual release of some Syrian detainees from both the regime and opposition sides.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests. Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and over 10 million were displaced, according to the UN.