This Is Torture

"All you think about is pain. If you get angry, they will just take your head off. You know they want to do it."
"They said I was kuffar [unbeliever] and against Shariah, even though I am Sunni."
Hazm al-Hussein, Gaziantep, Turkey

"I was sure I was going to die. Mind you, when you were there, you wanted to die."
Jimmy Shahinian, Armenian Christian

Exploitation: In a clear display of ISIS' callous attitude towards the use of child soldiers, one photograph from the terror group's latest media release shows two bearded adult militants laughing and leaning against a lorry while a group of young boys are forced to carry out military exercises in front of them

Survivors of the Syrian conflict speak of the pain and suffering experienced at the hands of the Alawite regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the quite similar treatment meted out under the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. Partners in Islamism's penchant for extracting pain beyond what most human physiques are able to surmount; one reflecting the Sunni sect, the other a Shiite offshoot, but both exemplifying to the best of their abilities the most disgusting impulses of human degradation.

A favourite method of torture practised by the Assad regime is one called the "shabeh", where prisoners are hung by their wrists for prolonged periods. Activists from the town of Raqqa underwent this type of torture first at the hands of the regime, and then once again when the Islamic State jihadis took over Raqqa as their Syrian headquarters. ISIS, fighting against the Syrian regime, but emulating their torture practise as exemplary and in need of copying, the highest form of praise.

There is a Christian minority in largely Sunni Muslim Raqqa. Protests by Sunni Syrians in Raqqa were suppressed by the regime and the activists within the city who had provided video footage to the outside world were subsequently arrested and tortured in appreciation of their efforts. Jimmy Shahinian who was exposed to the shabeh method of reward every four days for four months, had his arms separate from their sockets.

The prisoner's arms are handcuffed behind their back, the cuffs used to hoist the body into the air, placing pressure on the shoulder sockets. For Jimmy Shahinian, an especial treat came along with the shabeh, for it was combined with the "German chair", where the body is strapped into a chair, its back adjusted to inflict major pain on the spine. He had been taken prisoner in Damascus and eventually released when his parents paid a bribe.

The jails in Raqqa were opened and liberals released when the anti-Assad rebels arrived there. The released prisoners set up a human rights group. But when the jihadists took centre stage and ISIL took over Raqqa, it drove out the mainstream rebel groups and finally Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda's local branch. One day, alone on a street, Hussein was grabbed by three masked men with guns.

An oil installation used as an ISIL prison was where he ended up, treated to the shabeh every four days, hanging for two days each time, and beaten with knotted electricity cables. Another activist known as Samir had his first experience with Syria's intelligence regime officers with the use of "the tire" where the victim is plugged into the rim of a large tire holding him immobile as he is beaten. Then Samir was given the shabeh treatment by ISIL two years later.


Another favourite was the "flying carpet" where the unfortunate is strapped to a hinged board, the ends pulled together to bend the spine. Those special little touches to enforce rule and persuade those who resist that rule that their place within the drama is to experience pain so they will know what their reward for denying the supremacy of their captors will lead them to.

Breaking the human spirit.