DR Amer Masri is so proud of living in Scotland he has adopted Scott as a middle name. Four years ago, the 34-year-old was studying for a PhD in Edinburgh when he returned to Syria for a family visit. But he was snatched by government security guards and tortured every day for two months, for speaking out against the brutality of the Assad regime.

“I was put in prison for two months – with all kinds of torture, physically and psychologically, they threatened to rape my wife and my mum if I didn’t give information of who sent me,” he said.

“There were beatings, punchings, they used electricity cables on the sole of my feet and hit my head to the wall.

“They believed I was sent by MI6 or MI5 because I came from the UK.

“They were laughing and saying, let the Queen take you from our hands, you learned freedom and democracy there – we will teach you a lesson.”

Masri, who is from Hama in Syria, managed to escape after bribing officials to get released from a court appearance and lift a ban on him leaving the country. He returned to Scotland and his wife followed one month later.

Now he lives with his wife and two young sons in safety as a refugees in Edinburgh. Masri has completed his studies in sheep genetics and is working as a researcher, while his wife now has a degree in human nutrition.

While Masri said he believes it a “moral duty” to return to Syria one day when it is safe enough to help rebuild the country, for now Scotland is his adopted home.

He said: “We are fully integrated with society – working, paying taxes, we have our boys in the schools.

“This country gave me dignity, this country gave me freedom - this country gave me a career, education, and safety.

“All that means this is where I belong to – my heart is attached to Edinburgh.”

It is estimated that more than 300 Syrians have made their home in Scotland after being granted asylum. That number is expected to double in the coming months with the expansion of a scheme to relocate the most vulnerable living in camps to safety.

Last week, just over a hundred Syrian refugees arrived in Scotland as part of the Syrian vulnerable persons relocation (VPR) scheme.

Glasgow had previously resettled a small number of Syrians as the first local authority north of the border to take part in the UK-wide VPR scheme. But it has now been expanded in the wake of the outcry over the refugee crisis, triggered by the shocking picture of the lifeless body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed up on a beach.

Scotland will take around 350 of the 1,000 Syrian refugees who are due to arrive in the UK before Christmas, who will be placed in local authority areas around the country including Edinburgh, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire.

Among those preparing to welcome the new arrivals is Audrey Kinghorn, one of the organisers of the newly-formed group West Dunbartonshire Supports Refugees. She said the group was busy preparing welcome packs for families who are expected to arrive this week.

“The government will provide basic packs into their houses, but we are looking to gather clothing, toys, PE kits, schoolbags and all that kind of thing,” she said.

“We are also trying to promote buddying and befriending in the area in Clydebank where they are going to be located and they will be invited to join in with existing children's and women's groups."

Kinghorn said the group was formed after she began collecting aid for refugees arriving in the Greece. She said: “I intended to send just one box of clothing – but I was totally inundated, every room in the house was just full of stuff and in the end we sent 22 boxes."

She acknowledged there had been some negativity surrounding refugees but added: “Every day I am so taken aback by the kindness of people, wanting to give their time, wanting to donate stuff and wanting to give money.

“I truly believe in my heart most people feel a lot of empathy and do want to help.”

Pauline Diamond Salim, campaigns officer at the Scottish Refugee Council, said in the last few months almost 3000 people across Scotland had offered help to refugees, including offering rooms in their homes, time, skills and money.

She added: “People from every part of Scotland have written to us offering to help show people around their new community, offering help with English language skills and many more just offering to make friends with the new arrivals.

“This kind of support will make a huge difference to people as they settle into their new communities, especially in parts of the country that haven't hosted refugees before.”

Scotland's International development minister Humza Yousaf pointed out that the arrival in Scotland is just the beginning of the journey for the refugees who will be coming here under the VPR scheme, who are the “most vulnerable of the vulnerable.”

“Many of the people coming here are suffering a lot of trauma because they are coming from a conflict zone,” he said. “People may have trauma, mental health issues and these require long-term solutions, so there is not a short term fix.

“There is the important part of integration within local communities – again many people are going to local authority areas that haven’t taken refugees before.

“Pre-arrival a lot of work was done with communities in advance to prepare them for the arrival of refugees, but it is not an overnight thing. It is going to take time - months if not longer.”

The refugees arriving under the VPR scheme are screened for security and assessed for suitability by both the Home Office and the United Nation Refugee Agency.

Yousaf said he believed most people understood the terror attack in Paris was exactly the same brutality and tyranny that refugees arriving here were fleeing – but acknowledged there is a portion of society who will never agree with accepting refugees into the country.

He said: “They will use the homeless, veterans - anything as an excuse.

“I have had conversations with some of them and tried to convince them of the need to change their views, but for some people there is simply no persuading them otherwise.

“I wouldn’t change that decision (to take refugees) in the wake of the Paris attacks one iota – it was the right decision to make and I am very proud of how Scottish people have reacted.”

For Salih, a Syrian refugee who arrived in Glasgow around five months ago after making the arduous journey through Europe, what Scotland offers is a much-needed place of safety.

The 34-year-old fled “apocalyptic" conditions of his home in the east of Syria. He reels of a list of shocking reasons why he had to escape: several of his cousins were assassinated by both IS and the government. His name, he says, was next on the list. His fiancé died as a result of a bombing.

Salih, who worked as a graphic designer and artist in Syria and who did not want his full name to be used, said: “Now I am enjoying safety. I am happy to see people walk in safe places. Having stupid problems like the rain or finding a job is nothing compared to the apocalypse atmosphere I was living in.

“Living in a safe place is an amazing feeling – after you lose it and find it again it is amazing. You can’t even describe it.”