Syria: Sexual violence and social stigma
Syria’s female prisoners, who suffered from extreme torture and sexual abuse in prison, are now suffering from social stigmatization following their release.
The Middle East Eye reported on December 20, 2024, that women captured and detained by the Assad regime were subjected to “ruthless forms of torture, beaten, and deprived of food, water, medicine and basic sanitation in addition to rampant sexual violence. A report by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) describe Sawsan’s experience of her torture:
“They suspended me in a warehouse. I was upside down. My hands had been tied behind my back since I was arrested at the checkpoint. They started to kick me, and beat me with electric and wooden rods and a steel sword. They wounded my back, legs, and the rest of my body with knives. The blood started to flow from the wounds[…]He put a dirty toilet brush in my mouth. Five of them swung me against the wall. Torture continued for hours I cannot estimate. They did not give me food for three consecutive days. I had to relieve myself while I was in this condition.’’
Read: Former prisoner speaks out against abuse in Syrian prisons
Women who managed to survive the abuse of pro-Assad forces in detention, subjected to torture including sexual violence, were freed following the rebel overthrow of the Assad regime at the beginning of December, 2024. Whilst this would – of course – have brought relief and hope to these women, their struggle appears to have continued outside the confines of the camp.
Read: Journalists reveal identities after Assad’s fall
Many parts of Syrian society associate being a female prisoner with being a victim of rape which carries, unfortunately, a myriad of negative consequences. Zin Aldin, a female Syrian therapist working with Syria’s women prisoners, has described the psychological trauma of being detained and tortured by the Syrian state, and the trauma of reintegrating into ‘normal’ life. She said one of her patients told her, “I don’t know if I’m a good woman or a dirty woman”. Women also continue to whisper in fear during the therapy sessions. A trauma behaviour learned during their time in detention. But, Zin Aldin maintains that there is nothing that should keep these women quiet anymore.
The psychological implications of indefinite detention, torture, and sexual abuse cannot be imagined. However it should be hoped that the new free Syria reintegrates and includes these women who have suffered for so long already.
Middle East Eye
