Conditions worsen in besieged Hama prison - HRW and activists

Conditions worsen in besieged Hama prison - HRW and activists
The situation of the political prisoners in Hama’s central prison is deteriorating as Assad terrorists continue with their siege on the premise.

Assad warplanes flew around the premise in order to scare off the prisoners and pressure them to end their strike. 

Orient correspondent Feras Karam stated that “the political prisoners are living under a dire humanitarian situation for the eighth day in a row as they endure Assad’s siege and the blockade of food and medical supplies.”

“The prisoners are believed to have been living on dried bread for a couple of days now,” Karam reported.

The Assad regime attempted to storm into the prison a number of times but failed due to the resilience of the prisoners, even though the regime used tear and poisonous gas which led to 150 suffocation cases. 

In a video shot inside the prison and sent to Orient News on Sunday, prisoners state their needs and demand urgent help to be provided.

“No food, no water, no electricity… People are cold, some have asthma, some have diabetes, these are our demands,” the prisoners said as they crouched in an empty and dark cell.

“Where is the red crescent? Where are the Arabs? Where is the world?” one of the prisoners demanded.

Another one urged the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) to take action rather than just talk, stating that “we are men we can handle this, but there are elderly, how much can they endure?”

“We have children here, they are imprisoned with us, they are dying of hunger,” one stated, as another added that “there are children of the ages 11 and 12, I went to them and saw them crying.”

Syrian rights activist Mazen Darwish, a former detainee in the prison and in touch with prisoners said that the "inmates are running out of food and water and even medicines are no longer being given to those in serious conditions," adding prisoners wanted the Syrian Red Crescent to mediate on their behalf after an earlier deal that released at least 46 detainees before talks broke down.

Human Rights Watch expressed concern about the safety of the hostages and said an attempt to retake the facility risked high casualties.

“This standoff should not end in a bloodbath,” Reuters quoted Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch as saying in a statement late on Friday.

“The situation in Syria’s detention facilities and prisons is deeply unstable and prison conditions should be a priority for the international community.”

Syria’s military field courts have secret, closed-door proceedings that do not meet basic fair trial standards, HRW said in the statement.

The prisoners of conscience in the central prison in Hama, totaling 830, are subject to the process of detention without trial, most of whom are threatened with execution.

Earlier this year, UN investigators said detainees held by the Assad regime were being killed on a massive scale amounting to a state policy of extermination of the civilian population.

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