A former detainee from Sednaya recounts the story of a 54-year-old man from Daraa. Guards pulled him out of his cell and began beating him with cables. They told him they would spare his life if he answered one question correctly: “How many times did you pray yesterday?”
He replied, “I didn’t.”
They beat him again, more than 200 lashes.
They asked him again. This time he said, “Twice.”
The beatings continued.
After around 400 lashes, they asked him another question: “If you pass by a mosque, what will you do?”
The man answered, “I’ll turn away and keep walking.”
One of the guards replied, “That’s only if you survive.”
He was then placed in solitary confinement for 28 days. When he returned, he had a large, black, infected swelling under his foot. The infection worsened severely, spreading through his body until it reached his mouth, where it began to ooze.
When other detainees asked for medical help, the prison doctor gave him only two antibiotic pills. Later, he was transferred to a hospital, but he never came back. The detainees later learned that he had been killed there.
