CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Surviving Syria's Prisons: Bravery of two brothers who exposed the atrocities of Assad's evil regime
Surviving Syria's Prisons (BBC2)
What a strange power the television camera exercises over people. Point a lens at them and they will confess to crimes that, in court or under police questioning, they'd deny to their dying breath.
Filmed in silhouette, their faces in shadow, torturers and prison guards described the atrocities they routinely inflicted on political detainees, in the This World documentary Surviving Syria 's Prisons.
Their testimony was often self-serving. Each one pleaded he had no choice but to mete out brutality and murder. Henchmen took the age-old line that they were 'only obeying orders'. Officers claimed the men below them were an ill-disciplined rabble who could not be restrained.
Despite their excuses, all admitted to sadistic abuse and such extremes of violence that, in an international court, they would surely be facing life sentences.
Even Syria's deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown last December, was not immune to the power of the TV camera. In 2011, he appeared on a U.S. talk show, attempting to justify his reign of terror by claiming the thuggish security services were not under his control.
'They are not my forces. They are military forces that belong to the government,' he said. 'I don't own them. I am president, I don't own the country.'
Chinless and goggle-eyed, like a serial killer invented by P.G. Wodehouse, Assad looked desperately pleased with himself to be interviewed by veteran American journalist Barbara Walters.
Clearly, he was achieving a long-held ambition to appear on a prestigious U.S. show, and the fact millions of Americans would learn how his regime ruled by mass murder was a price worth paying.
The limitless evil exposed to daylight in this film was balanced by the extraordinary bravery of two brothers whose work made the programme possible.
Shadi and Hadi Haroun were subjected to years of torment inside Assad's most notorious prison, Saydnaya, as punishment for their role in the Arab Spring protests. They took us into the derelict shell of Saydnaya, 'the human slaughterhouse', where the regime dealt with anyone suspected of opposing Assad's Ba'ath party by word, deed or thought.
Executions by hanging were daily events, not on a gallows but with a noose and a chair. Guards frequently beat men to death or even buried them alive. Satellite photos reveal the existence of around 130 mass graves.
The Haroun brothers were regularly suspended by their arms from the ceiling pipes, side by side, or with their hands manacled behind their backs and doubled over in what they called the 'ghost method'.
How anyone could live through years of that treatment defies comprehension. This was 75 minutes of necessary but relentlessly depressing television. The only relief came from the brothers' devotion to each other.
Grey-bearded Hadi told how the worst agony was being forced to listen to his brother's screams. 'I'd always try to be the one who took the beating rather than him,' he said. Truly nightmarish.
Small Change of the Night:
Bullion robber Charlie (Sam Spruell) had a headache laundering £10million offshore in The Gold (BBC1).
These days, as Oliver Bullough's brilliant book Moneyland makes plain, that's petty cash for tax-evading crooks and tech billionaires.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Live Israel ‘ready to strike Iran' over its nuclear programme
Israel is considering launching a military strike against Iran in the coming days without American support, Western officials say. The officials said fears of either no deal or a weak deal between Donald Trump and the Islamic Republic to curtail its nuclear programme had forced Israeli strategists to consider a unilateral attack against Tehran. It comes as the UN nuclear watchdog's board of governors found that Iran had broken its non-proliferation agreement for the first time in 20 years. The governors demanded Iran provide answers 'without delay' in a long-running investigation into uranium traces found at several locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites. In response to the ruling, the Islamic Republic said it had no choice but to respond by establishing a new enrichment facility in a 'secure location'. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran will not abandon its right to uranium enrichment because of mounting frictions in the region, adding that a 'friendly' country had alerted Tehran over a potential military strike by Israel.
BreakingNews.ie
an hour ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Bid to dissolve Israeli parliament defeated in vote
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government survived an attempt to dissolve parliament early on Thursday. Most of Mr Netanyahu's ultra-Orthodox coalition partners joined him in voting against a Bill that would have forced them to register for military service while the country is at war. Advertisement The vote was the most serious challenge to the government since the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, the biggest security failure in Israel's history and the trigger for the ongoing war in Gaza. The Bill's failure means no other Bill to dissolve Knesset can be submitted for at least six months, shoring up Mr Netanyahu's embattled coalition. The ultra-Orthodox parties are furious that the government has failed to pass a law exempting their community from mandatory military service. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men block a highway during a protest against army recruitment in Bnei Brak, Israel (Leo Correa/AP/PA) The issue has long divided the Jewish Israeli public, especially during the 20-month war in the Gaza Strip. Advertisement Israel's opposition had hoped the public anger over the exemptions would help topple the government. But just two of the 18 ultra-Orthodox members of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, supported the bill to dissolve. Most Haredi MKs agreed to vote against the bill after foreign affairs and defence committee chairman Yuli Edelstein said he and the ultra-Orthodox parties had reached an understanding on the basis of a new draft law, which they will continue discussing over the coming week. Military service is mandatory for most Jews in Israel but the politically powerful ultra-Orthodox, who make up roughly 13% of Israeli society, have traditionally received exemptions if they are studying full-time in religious seminaries. The ultra-Orthodox, also known as Haredim, or 'God-fearing' in Hebrew, say that integrating into the army threatens their traditional way of life. Advertisement Each year, roughly 13,000 ultra-Orthodox men reach the conscription age of 18, but less than 10% enlist, according to parliament's state control committee, which held a hearing examining the issue. Israel is engaged in the longest active war in the country's history, which has stretched its military to the breaking point. The Haredim's widespread refusal to serve, and threats to topple the government during war-time, have enraged many Israelis, especially those who have served multiple rounds of reserve duty.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Superfit SAS veteran who needs lung transplant after being 'poisoned' by fumes when ISIS torched oil wells sues his CNN employers for £200,000
A superfit SAS veteran who was 'poisoned' by fumes from an ISIS cocktail is now claiming £200,000 compensation. Adam Dobby, 54, had been working as a security consultant for CNN when he was allegedly repeatedly exposed to toxic chemicals in torched oil and sulphur. Mr Dobby is suing Cable News International Limited at London 's High Court as he claims one of his lungs was so damaged he requires a transplant. The former SAS operative, who was once fit enough to run 56-hour ultra marathons in the Libyan desert, says he was not properly protected while working as an independent contractor in the warzone. But the company has denied liability for his injury, pointing out that Mr Dobby had worked in the same areas as its news crews - and that no risk of respiratory issues was identified at the time or after. Mr Dobby, of Cheltenham, held his military position between 1993 and 2000, including in the Balkans, before leaving the army and working as a security consultant and field producer for news teams in warzones. He also turned his hand to war photography and has exhibited his work at galleries near his home in Gloucestershire and in London. According to documents lodged at the High Court, Mr Dobby was working as an independent contractor in Iraq and Syria in 2015 and 2016 when he was exposed to hazardous fumes. His job involved providing advice to news crews, acting as a liaison with locals and accompanying them on their expeditions across Iraq and Northern Syria. At that time, Islamic State had begun a tactic of damaging oil well heads and chemical plants and setting fires to create thick plumes of smoke and fumes to disguise their activities. 'During this period of time, Mr Dobby was required to work in an atmosphere which was constantly poisoned by the smoke and fume contained within these plumes,' says his barrister, Michael Rawlinson KC. 'Not only were the effects of the plume all pervading, they would be exacerbated by the fact that, in order to obtain telegenic shots, the crews would work in as close proximity as they could to the plumes where that was the point of the story being recorded. 'An exacerbating feature of all of his exposures was the regular presence of sandstorms, the effects of which were to both to stir up any toxic dust created hitherto by the smoke from the fires and to render it unpredictable as to which area the freshly created fumes, smoke and soot would continue to contaminate the air he breathed.' But despite the noxious pollutants in the air, Mr Dobby says he was not provided with adequate PPE or training by CNN, which 'asked him to remain' when he expressed concern about burning sulphur storage facilities. He said the result was that Mr he had 'regularly and persistently inhaled a cocktail of soot, smoke and fumes,' which included sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and other chemicals which would have at least contributed to his respiratory problems. Suing for more than £200,000, he claims he at first noticed an 'insidious onset of shortness of breath' around 2017, which worsened in 2022, before a diagnosis of obliterative bronchiolitis - a lung disease which damages small airways - in 2023. He says his disease is down to the inhalation of toxic fumes and CNN is responsible because he was not adequately protected while working for them. Previously 'supremely fit' - to the point he was able in 2007 to complete a 190-mile Libyan Challenge ultra-marathon, which saw him run 56 hours non-stop in desert - he now needs a lung transplant, the barrister says. In its defence to the action, CNN barrister Jayne Adams KC says: 'At all material times, the duties of Mr Dobby required him to provide security advice for and to assess the risks to the journalist teams on the ground. 'He was required to look after the safety of the team. In so far as there were any risks which were outside his experience and expertise, he was required to liaise with his security lead. 'If there was a particular issue, for example the risk of fume and/or dust exposure, he would have been expected to have raised it and to have procured any equipment that was needed. 'It is denied that during the time that Mr Dobby carried out these services, there was known to be any issue with dust and/or fume. 'Further or in the alternative, it is denied that there was any foreseeable risk of injury arising from any exposure to dust and/or fume. 'Mr Dobby worked in the same areas and under the same conditions as many of the news crews and their security. It is denied that any known risk and/or issue with respiratory difficulties arose either at the time or subsequently. 'When there was a risk of chemical weapons being utilised, suitable PPE was provided. There were also 3M masks in the PPE bags provided and taken with the crews. 'It was not an environment in which these were habitually required. 'It is not admitted that Mr Dobby was regularly or significantly exposed to substances giving rise to the risk of injury to health. He must prove the fact and extent of exposure and the relative potency of the substances to which he alleges he was exposed strictly.' She also said Mr Dobby had agreed a 'termination of independent contractor's agreement' when he left CNN in which he was paid a sum and agreed to release the company from any claims he had against it. 'In the circumstances, the defendant contends that Mr Dobby has compromised any right he may have to bring a claim and denies that he now has any such entitlement,' she said. The case has not yet gone before a judge, but will be the subject of a full High Court trial unless the parties agree to a settlement outside of court.
