On 10 June 2012, Al Ghashim, a 38-year-old farmer and peaceful activist normally living in Al Yaarubiyah, Al Hasakah governorate, was crossing a checkpoint in Dhibana town, near Qamishli, when he was arrested and beaten by officers of the army and the Military Intelligence Directorate.

After his arrest, Al Ghashim was detained for about 20 days without any access to the outside world – a condition that violates per se his fundamental rights – in several facilities in Qamishli, including the army special regiment no.54 facility, the premises of the Military Intelligence Directorate and the local military police.

During his detention at the premises of the Military Intelligence Directorate and the military police in Qamishli, Al Ghashim was severely beaten including with sticks, especially on his hands and legs. Torture left him severely injured on his head and his knees. He refers that he was subjected to torture to confess he was a member of the Free Syrian Army but he always denied this allegation.

In early July 2012, he was indicted for terrorism and transferred to Hasakah prison in northeastern Syria where he could finally receive his family visits. He was released on bail on 6 September 2013 and his case was subsequently closed.

"Peaceful activists and opponents have constantly been arrested and tortured by the Syrian authorities, as the case of Al Ghashim exemplifies," says Inès Osman Osman, Alkarama's Legal Officer for the Mashreq. "The practice of torture in Syria has taken such a proportion that it is nowadays widespread and systematic. As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture (CAT), Syria has a legal obligation to put an end to this situation."

Concerned over the torture Al Ghashim was subjected to, Alkarama and Human Rights Guardians submitted his case to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) to call upon him to demand the Syrian authorities to ensure the allegations of torture raised by Al Ghashim be duly investigated and his right to a fair and adequate compensation ensured.

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