The Action Group for the Palestinians of Syria (AGPS) said that it documented gross violations against Palestinian-Syrians in Syria, noting that it has recorded the deaths of 35 female Palestinian-Syrians under torture in prisons of the Assad regime since 2011.

In a report published on its website on Friday, the AGPS’s Monitoring and Documentation Team said that a total of 565 Palestinian-Syrians have been killed under torture in the prisons of the Assad regime since the conflict began in 2011. It pointed out that the victims included children and elderly persons.

According to the report, the Assad regime continues to forcibly disappear more than 1,724 Palestinian-Syrians, including 108 females, in its prisons and security branches.

The London-based monitoring group cited the testimony of a Palestinian-Syrian woman who spent time in the Assad regime’s prisons. The former detainee recounted horrible details of abuses against female detainees in the prisons of the Assad regime, including electrocution, brutal beating, and rape. She said she was raped more than ten times a day by various officers and jailers.

According to the report, the Assad regime’s security forces handed over the personal belongings of dozens of deceased detainees to their families. However, these families usually chose to remain silent for fear of reprisal by the Assad regime’s security agencies.

In a separate report released earlier in January, the Group said that at least 82 Palestinian-Syrians were killed under torture in the prisons of the Assad regime in 2018.

In a report issued on late December 2018, the Group said it had recorded the arrests of 1,680 Palestinian-Syrians since March 2011, including 106 women. It noted that the Assad regime continues to withhold information about their fate and whereabouts.

It is worth noting that fear of social stigmatization and shame prevents many families from reporting the forced disappearance, kidnapping, and rape of their female members, which means that the figures above are only approximate. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)