Far' Falastin

Far' Falastin (Arabic: فرع فلسطين‎ "Palestine Branch"), also known as Branch 235, is a prison operated by Syrian Intelligence under the charge of Brig. Gen. Muhammad Khallouf located in Damascus, notorious for accounts of torture, coercive interrogation, and deplorable conditions related by its former detainees.[1][2]

The Branch was established in 1969 as the liaison between the Syrian government and the various Palestinian entities permitted to operate in Syria (Fatah, as-Sa'iqa, DFLP, and PFLP).[3] Although it has been associated with torture at least since 1990,[4][5] the prison gained widespread notoriety in the wake of the September 11 attacks due to detainees suspected of ties to terrorist organizations being sent there through extraordinary renditions, primarily by the United States, as a means of outsourcing torture. The detention center is reportedly quite large, run by some 500 employees,[2] but the majority of the reports regarding torture and abusive interrogation focus on the three underground floors.[1][6][7][8]

Conditions

The cells are described as being the size of a coffin, or 2 by 1.5 meters.[1][2][7][9]

The cells are infested with cockroaches, fleas, rats, mice, and lice.[1][7] The scarce amount of food given to the prisoners causes extreme weight loss.[2][7][8] Prisoners are given one bottle for urine and another for drinking water.[1][10][11] Detainees are reportedly allowed out of their cells for a few minutes to use the restroom three times per day, except on Fridays when a longer break is allowed to take a shower and do laundry.[10] Access to the prison yard for natural sunlight is limited to ten minutes per month.[10] Medical care is denied completely as a matter of routine.[1][2][10]

They brought me down to where the cells are and put me in a room that measured 2 by 1.5 meters. The ceiling was not high. They left me there by myself. I stayed in this cell the whole time I was detained. The cell had every kind of filth, cockroaches, fleas, the smell of dirt and mold. There was no toilet. There was just an old large Pepsi bottle filled with urine.

— Samir, imprisoned at Palestine Branch in 2011[1]

There was a small opening in the ceiling, about one foot by two feet with iron bars. Over that was another ceiling, so only a little light came through this. There were cats and rats up there and from time to time the cats peed through the opening into the cell. There were two blankets, two dishes and two bottles. Nothing else. No light.

— Maher Arar, imprisoned at Palestine Branch from September 2002 to October 2003[7]

Sexual violence

The prison officers frequently threaten sexual violence, particularly gang rape, and occasionally carry it out.[1]

They threatened to bring my mother. They asked whether I wanted them to bring my wife here and have all the guys sleep with her.

— Samir, imprisoned at Palestine Branch in 2011[1]

They had a schedule. They would take turns with us. More than one man would rape you. It wasn't every day, but it was regular.

— Nour, detained at Palestine Branch in 2012.[12]

Beating

Methods of torture include the "German chair" (a metal chair frame used to stretch the spine), the "dulab" or "tire method" (in which the prisoner is made to place his head, legs, and arms through a car tire in order to immobilize him while he is beaten by the interrogator), "shabeh" hanging (where the detainee is suspended from the ceiling from by his wrists such that his toes are barely touching the ground), "falaqa" (where the detainee is laid on his back, his legs are lifted at a 90-degree angle, and the soles of his feet are beaten), electrocution, and others.[1][2][9][11][13]

During torture sessions, the interrogators would severely beat a prisoner by resorting to the use of various tools and techniques. For example, Witness 1 was beaten with a hard plastic tube for several hours. He further describes how interrogators stuck pencils into the bodies of detainees and then purposefully broke the pencils so that a piece of the pencil remained stuck in the prisoner's flesh. Witness 3 reported an incident of a prisoner being beaten with a meat hook on a chain. Witness 2 testified that the interrogators poured cleaning chemicals on his body, which caused severe burns, and prevented him from washing it off. Other torture tools include cables, sticks, pipes as well as electric shocks.[2]

Former detainees

References
  1. Solvang, Ole; Neistat, Anna (2012). Torture archipelago : arbitrary arrests, torture, and enforced disappearances in Syria's underground prisons since March 2011 (PDF). New York: Human Rights Watch. ISBN 1564329062. OCLC 805945168. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-12-23.
  2. Executive summary: Criminal complaints to the German Federal Public Prosecutor, Torture in Syria (PDF) (Report). European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. March 2017. Retrieved 2018-08-11. Via – "Torture under the Assad Regime". ECCHR.
  3. Shemesh, Moshe (1996). The Palestinian Entity 1959-1974: Arab politics and the PLO. London: Frank Cass & Co. LTD. p. 120. ISBN 0-7146-3281-3.
  4. Paul, James A. (1990). Human rights in Syria. Human Rights Watch. pp. 48. ISBN 978-0-9296-9269-2.
  5. Abu-Hamad, Aziz; Whitley, Andrew (1992). Throwing away the key : indefinite political detention in Syria. Human Rights Watch. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-5643-2087-2.
  6. Pollard, Ruth (2012-07-03). "Revealed: Syrian torture centres". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2017-12-23. Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  7. Qureshi, Asim (2013-12-28). "Fara' Falastin – Syria's proxy-US prison". CAGE. Archived from the original on 2017-12-23. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
  8. Stark, Holger (2005-11-21). "Der vergessene Gefangene". Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 2017-12-23. Retrieved 2017-12-23. ("Far' Falastin Prison is like an iceberg. The dangerous part lies hidden under the surface... From the ground floor, however, a staircase winds down into the dark basement vault, the torture wing ... This underground section makes Far' Falastin one of the world's most notorious prisons, a mixture between Alcatraz and Abu Ghraib.")
  9. Grey, Stephen (2006). Ghost plane : the true story of the CIA torture program (1st ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312360231. OCLC 70335397.
  10. Amnesty International (2004-10-08). "Syrian-born German held three years without charge in rat-infested Syrian "tomb"" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-12-23.
  11. O'Connor, Dennis R. (2006). Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar: Analysis and Recommendations. Ottawa, Ont: Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar. ISBN 0-660-19648-4. OCLC 72256992.
  12. "Syria: Sexual Assault in Detention". Human Rights Watch. June 15, 2012. Archived from the original on 2017-07-31.
  13. Singh, Amrit (2013). Berry, David (ed.). Globalizing torture : CIA secret detention and extraordinary rendition. New York: Open Society Foundations. ISBN 9781936133758. OCLC 820531601.
  14. Sawer, Patrick (2013-12-21). "Abbas Khan: The surgeon born to help others who paid with his life in Syria". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2017-12-23. Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  15. Amnesty International (2008-01-25). "International human rights standards applicable to the review of the conduct of Canadian officials in the cases of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin" – via Archive.org.

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