Syrian refugees describe brutal prison torture as they mark International Human Rights Day in Lancaster

Maison, a refugee from Syria living in Lancaster, initiated the event with the support of education charity Global Link.

Fifteen of more than 50,000 photos of mutilated corpses that were smuggled out of Syria in 2013 by military defector code-named Caeser were displayed at the Friends Meeting House.

Maison had spent two years in a detention centre, where she was tortured and witnessed the rape of many women, some of whom later bore children in prison.

Participants at the event saw footage of women and children being released from the prisons just yesterday, with some of the children never having seen outside of the prison, their mothers disbelieving that they were finally free.

Maison said: “I saw children being tortured. We came here today to show the world the barbarism of Al Assad, and to share the pain we experienced at the hands of this dictator.”

Participants heard directly from a Syrian refugee in Germany who described how, as a reporter preparing the photos for publication, he found a photo of his own father’s corpse, a man who had actually been a member of Bashar Al Assad’s political party, but ended up imprisoned and dead because they wanted access to his money. Even support for the regime did not guarantee life or safety.

Suhaib Jaber, a journalist from Syria now living as a refugee in London, also spoke of the detention centres, first sharing a photo of a relative who was found dead in one of Syria’s military hospitals just two days earlier.

He shared a video of the relative who described the torture he endured, from hanging by the wrists to clamps on his genitals. Torture was widespread. He described how torturers seemed to enjoy inflicting pain, with one well known prison guard filming himself in the act of torture.

Now, in Syria, more horrors of the regime are revealed every moment, with people speaking out where before they were silenced by the threat of imprisonment, or imprisonment of their wives or mothers or children.

Suhaib said, ‘Like in the photos, I was tortured, naked, alongside my father. We lived in a cell deep underground in less than a squared metre where periodically the jailors turned off the fan that gave us oxygen to breathe.

"I have scars in my body and my mind. But the difference is that I am alive. Now I appreciate everything, even the cup of tea I was just given.”

Suhaib’s wife and four children are in Turkey. They are what has helped him cope with the trauma, but they are now at risk of deportation to Syria, not all of which is safe to return to, with conflict still in parts of the country.

All three refugees spoke of the need to bring the torturers to justice, and for the international community to help Syria transition to the freedom and democracy the Syrian revolution first called for in 2011.

Suhaib added: “We thank the UK government for providing protection for Syrian refugees, and ask for time to allow Syria to recover. And today, the most important thing is that you are hearing what is inside us.”