Torture through a viewfinder

[Sally]

It is very important that you be careful so that you wouldn't be thrown in a Syrian jail.

Torture through a viewfinder
Photos shine light on Syrian government, prompt calls for action
October 23, 2015 | Editor's Pick

By Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Staff Writer
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The shocking images from Syria of masked men triumphantly torturing and butchering prisoners in orange jumpsuits first aroused the world to the Islamic State terrorists’ ferocious campaign to remake the Middle East into a caliphate.

But while these savage displays have helped crystallize global opposition to the rapidly growing threat of ISIS, far less visual documentation exists of the ongoing brutalities perpetrated by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Now, a cache of 55,000 photos smuggled out of Syria last year provides a glimpse into the apparent systematic torture and death of 11,000 civilians between 2011 and 2013 inside two military police facilities in Damascus, one of which is less than a mile from the presidential palace. It’s estimated that 300,000 other prisoners remain in Assad-controlled jails.

Thirty of the images are on exhibit in Lewis 202 at Harvard Law School (HLS) through Nov. 4. It’s only the third time the photos have been displayed in the United States, following showings at the United Nations headquarters and in Congress.

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Torture through a viewfinder

 

[cnm]

You know, you really should quit while you're behind. Any mention of torture in ME prisons from Americans can only provoke howls of derisive laughter.

 

[Sally]

You know, you really should quit while you're behind. Any mention of torture in ME prisons from Americans can only provoke howls of derisive laughter.

You are a very stupid man if you equate this to what happens in Syrian prisons.

 

[cnm]

What, sadistic guards don't take pleasure in inmates' deaths in Syrian prisons? Fair enough, you'd know better than me I guess.

 

[Mr. H.]

What, sadistic guards don't take pleasure in inmates' deaths in Syrian prisons? Fair enough, you'd know better than me I guess.

We get it... you hate America for any reason imagined.

 

[Sally]

What, sadistic guards don't take pleasure in inmates' deaths in Syrian prisons? Fair enough, you'd know better than me I guess.

Well since you are concerned with all the torture in U.S. prisons as you did bring up that picture, why not supply us with some pictures that show all the gruesome details like the ones that came out of Syrian prisons..

 

[cnm]

What, sadistic prison guards taking pleasure in prisoners tortured to death was imagined?

But we have the pictures. Look, see?

No imagining there.

 

[cnm]

Well since you are concerned with all the torture in U.S. prisons as you did bring up that picture, why not supply us with some pictures that show all the gruesome details like the ones that came out of Syrian prisons..

Are these gruesome enough?

 

[cnm]

No?

 

[Sally]

No?

When I see someone having to pull up something like this, I wonder if he is a latent homosexual getting his cheap thrills. As terrible as this is to treat a prisoner, it no way compares to what happens to prisons in many Middle East countries. May you, if ever captured in some Middle East country and thrown into jail, never have to suffer as those in prisons in Syria as well as other jails in the Middle East.

By the way, since this poster has pulled up pictures which have to do with sex abuse, has anyone seen him make mention of Muslim men diddling sexually with little boys and girls in the Muslim world, or is it that he just wants to show the U.S. in a bad light?

 

[cnm]

When I see the people who commit these offences I wonder whether it's symptomatic of their wider society.

But anyway, I see you consider them not to be gruesome enough, nor the pictures of sadistic guards taking pleasure in the sight of inmates tortured to death. You have a stronger stomach than me.

I suppose that too is symptomatic of your wider society.

 

[Sally]

When I see the people who commit these offences I wonder whether it's symptomatic of their wider society.

But anyway, I see you consider them not to be gruesome enough, nor the pictures of sadistic guards taking pleasure in the sight of inmates tortured to death. You have a stronger stomach than me.

I suppose that too is symptomatic of your wider society.

And what kind of society do you belong to where you can pass by the men tortured horribly (even dying of this torture) to concentrate on pictures where the actions were deplorable, but the prisoners affected came out in one piece. I imagine if you were passing through the halls of the U.N. where the torture pictures of Syrians were hung and you would see people gasping while viewing them, you would just say "ho hum, I have worse" and pull out your pictures and show the passerbys. They would think you had a screw loose.

Documenting Death Inside Syria's Secret Prisons

 

[cnm]

And what kind of society do you belong to where you can pass by the men tortured horribly (even dying of this torture) to concentrate on pictures where the actions were deplorable, but the prisoners affected came out in one piece. [...]

Prisoners came out in one dead piece. How many images do I have to show?

Really, all that means is the US has a veto at the UN and Syria does not.

You are too busy removing the beam from your neighbour's eye to remove the mote from your own.

Nothing new.

 

[Sally]

And what kind of society do you belong to where you can pass by the men tortured horribly (even dying of this torture) to concentrate on pictures where the actions were deplorable, but the prisoners affected came out in one piece. [...]

Prisoners came out in one dead piece. How many images do I have to show?

Really, all that means is the US has a veto at the UN and Syria does not.

You are too busy removing the beam from your neighbour's eye to remove the mote from your own.

Nothing new.

Are you kidding? If there were so many dead bodies, the U.N. would have been in an uproar. Many of your so-called "dead prisoners" upon release went back to being terrorists again, while the relatives of those killed in the Syrian prisons are still mourning them.

It's a shame that you couldn't spend some time in a Syrian, Iranian or other prison in the Middle East and then come back here to relate your experience.

Would it really have been too much to just read the story? I am sure you got your cheap thrills when the scandal and pictures of what happened at Abu Ghraibi prison came out and probably had a good old time pulling up those sexual pictures..