Syrian prisons

In his 20s, with the hopes of becoming a foreign correspondent, Kevin Dawes - now 39, at the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael, Calif. - traveled to Libya and then Syria where he was arrested, imprisoned and tortured.

An American was locked up in Syria. A pact with a British inmate may have saved him

4:09pm December 29, 2021

by Deborah Amos

Kevin Dawes describes how a fellow prisoner in Syria kept a promise that called attention to Dawes' detention. Now, five years after his release, Dawes is suing the Syrian regime.

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Hassan Mahmoud, 53, is one of the Syrians who testified in a landmark trial in Germany in which a former Syrian security official is charged with crimes against humanity and other crimes for overseeing torture at a prison.

World News

Syrians Have Stared Down Threats To Testify Against Assad's Regime In A Landmark Trial

8:30am September 28, 2021

by Deborah Amos

Witnesses have detailed Syrian prison abuse in a crimes against humanity trial in Germany for over a year. Some withdrew over threats, while many have persevered to bring to justice an ex-official.

Presiding judge Anne Kerber (left) stands before handing the verdict to Syrian defendant Eyad al-Gharib (right, face hidden under a folder) Wednesday in Koblenz. Gharib, 44, a former Syrian intelligence service agent, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in jail

World News

Landmark Verdict In Germany Sentences Syrian For Aiding Crimes Against Humanity

11:33am February 24, 2021

by Deborah Amos

Eyad al-Gharib was convicted for sending protesters to a prison where they were tortured, in the first criminal trial against Syrians who served in President Bashar Assad's government.

American Sam Goodwin was captured and imprisoned in Syria in 2019 when he was 30 years old.

World News

'I Was Absolutely Terrified': American Sam Goodwin Describes Syrian Prison Time

10:07am February 04, 2021

by Deborah Amos

The traveler tells the story of his two months held in Syria's notorious prisons, and how his family got a Lebanese official to help secure his release.

Syrian Oscar-nominated filmmaker Feras Fayyad answers journalists' questions outside a courtroom during a break in a trial against two Syrian defendants accused of state-sponsored torture in Syria, on April 23, in Koblenz, Germany.

World News

Syrian Filmmaker Speaks Out On Torture: 'I Was Holding This Pain For A Long Time'

2:33pm July 01, 2020

by Deborah Amos

Oscar-nominated documentary maker Feras Fayyad delivered the first witness testimony in a crimes against humanity trial against a former Syrian government official in Germany.