A detainee’s death revives Syria’s memories of torture and abuse in prisons

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The passing of Mohammad Ghamira, a 29-year-old father of two, has reignited painful recollections of torture and abuse endured in Syrian prisons under the Assad regime's prolonged rule. Ghamira, who suffered from hemophilia, a condition that impairs blood clotting, succumbed to "complications from cerebral and gastrointestinal hemorrhaging" following a beating at the al-Haffah police station. His body was laid to rest on Monday in his hometown of al-Haffah, nestled in coastal Latakia province.

When the insurgents ousted the long-serving President Bashar Assad in December 2024, following a bitter 14-year civil war, they liberated the country's infamous prisons. Rights groups assert that thousands of detainees perished in mass executions or succumbed to injuries and diseases while in custody. During Assad's tenure, detainees faced torture, beatings, and even rape.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa's administration has vowed accountability in Ghamira's tragic case. However, rights groups maintain that this incident is not an anomaly and that abuses continue unabated in detention centers. Ghamira, a former White Helmets volunteer who operated in opposition-held territories before Assad's fall, was detained days earlier on an allegation of theft involving a modest sum of money. The statement from Latakia's internal security command offered no further specifics about the case.

Raed al-Saleh, Syria's Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management, who previously headed the White Helmets, disclosed on X that Ghamira had died due to "complications from cerebral and gastrointestinal hemorrhaging" stemming from a beating he endured after his arrest at the al-Haffah police station. Both al-Saleh and Ghamira's relatives corroborated the latter's diagnosis of hemophilia.