Torture in the Syrian prison: Turk returns after 21 years

Torture in the Syrian prison: Turk returns after 21 years

After almost 21 years in a Syrian prison, Mehmet Ertürk, a 53-year-old Turk, recently freed. In a stirring interview, he described the most brutal conditions of his detention. "It was torture, constantly torture," remembered Ertürk, whose prison sentence was originally to come to an end in 2019. In an underground dungeon in Damascus, he lived under inhuman circumstances that ranged from cockroaches in food to severe physical abuse by the guards, as he denounced. The overcrowding of the cells was particularly depressing, in which up to 120 inmates were housed instead of the intended 20. According to Ertürk, many prisoners starved and their corpses were thrown into waste containers. These cruel experiences are not only frightening, but also throw a dark shadow on the conditions of detention in Syria, about which little is known, as krone.at reported.

the rescue from despair

A dramatic turn occurred on the night of his liberation when Islamist fighters broke the prison nistors and freed the occupants. Ertürk described his fear and hopelessness: "I thought: this is my end." After his liberation, he returned to his home village, his family believed that he was dead. The emotional reunion was characterized by tears and relief. His wife, Hatice, confirmed that she had no hope for a return in the two and a half decades of his absence. At the time of his arrest, the youngest daughter of Ertürk was only six months old, and the family had to live with the uncertainty whether she would ever see him again. This story not only emphasizes the personal will to survive, but also suggests a larger refugee and prisoner crisis in Syria, such as Springer analyzed.

Ertürk's experiences continue to raise questions about human rights violations in and around Syria, where torture and inhuman terms of detention come to light. Such reports are essential to maintain a more comprehensive picture of the conditions in the Syrian prisons and to persuade the international community to act.