Riots erupt as Syrian inmates protest over jail conditions

Top Stories

Riots erupt as Syrian inmates protest over jail conditions
A Syrian man carries his daughter who was injured by a shell which landed on their house as he awaits for treatment at a make-shift medical centre in the town of Douma.on the northeastern outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus, on August 15, 2015. Shelling resumed earlier in the day in two government-held villages in northwest Syria and a rebel town near Damascus, state media and a monitor said, as a ceasefire for the areas collapsed. AFP PHOTO / ABD DOUMANY. - AFP

Amman - A leaked video showed scores of prisoners with their faces covered chatting "Allahu Akbar" with footage of a ward that had furniture and equipment ransacked.

By Agencies

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Sat 15 Aug 2015, 4:21 PM

Last updated: Sat 15 Aug 2015, 11:04 PM

Hundreds of Syrian inmates at a main prison in the city of Hama rioted on Friday in a protest against jail conditions and harsh sentences, a monitor and rights activists said on Friday.
A leaked video purportedly from inside the jail showed scores of prisoners with their faces covered chatting "Allahu Akbar" with footage of a ward that had furniture and equipment ransacked and beds turned into barricades to sealed iron gates.
The UK Observatory for Human Rights said gunfire shots were heard outside the prison in the city located 213 km north of the capital Damascus, after inmates, mostly held on terror-related charges and for joining protests against the state, took control of several major wards and ransacked prison quarters.
Officials were not immediately available for comment and state media did not mention the incident. The monitor, which tracks violence in the country through a network of sources, said tear gas was used to quell the riots believed to be the worst bout of unrest since simmering tensions inside the prison this year.
In July, authorities broke into prison wards and took at least 25 prisoners to unknown destinations. In mid-June, scores of inmates ended a hunger strike after getting promises by the authorities to address a catalogue of complaints, including harsh sentences and allegations of widespread torture.
UN investigators have said there were suspected war criminals in Syrian military units and security agencies as well as in the insurgent groups fighting them in the country's four-year long civil war.
International rights groups say thousands of detainees are held in Syrian government prisons without charges, many of whom are subjected to torture, a claim denied by the authorities.
The Syrian conflict began in 2011 with popular protests against President Bashar Al Assad and spiraled into civil war after a crackdown by security forces.
In a separate development, the Daesh on Friday besieged a strategic bastion of rebels fighting both them and the Syrian government after less than a week of combat in which at least 121 people died, a monitoring group said.
Since Sunday, the militants have taken control of a series of areas near the strategic northern town of Marea in Aleppo province, which lies about 35 kilometres from Aleppo city and is on a major road to the Turkish border.
"On Friday evening, the Daesh wrested the village of Tlaline, thereby totally encircling Marea," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"The militants are now besieging the town from the east, north, south and southwest," he said. He said the Daesh group also control the road to the west of the town which leads to the Turkish border 25 kilometres away.


More news from