After attending a demonstration in Syria, Qassem* was imprisoned and tortured. He was tortured for 13 days straight. He confessed to the torturers that he had attended a demonstration in the early days of the revolution in Syria, thinking that would end the torture. It did not. He was put in a tire and beaten and electrocuted. Qassem told CVT he considered himself fortunate because only one of his fingernails was removed; many of his fellow prisoners had all of their nails removed.

He confessed to the torturers that he had attended a demonstration in the early days of the revolution in Syria, thinking that would end the torture. It did not.”

Transferred to a local prison in Homs, Qassem spent six months suffering sexual and psychological humiliation, being stripped naked and forced to eat on his knees with his hands behind his back. After languishing for months, Qassem was finally released when a prison official recognized him and alerted his family. The judge who finally released him told him to leave Syria immediately. Qassem and his family fled, seeking refuge in Jordan. 

Qasssem came to CVT seeking rehabilitative care for the problems he was having as a result of his torture. He went through the healing cycle and then decided he wanted to share his story. Qassem did not want others to have to suffer what he had survived.

*Name and some details have been changed for safety and to protect confidentiality.
Photo credit: Dreamstime.

Funding for CVT’s work in Jordan is provided by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.